This is not the most exciting title but if you opened it anyway, thank you for reading! Whenever possible, we seek the input of our members on policy changes. These conversations often bring perspectives and considerations that we would have otherwise overlooked. (You can read more about how we govern the SWG here.)

The SWG mods are requesting public comment on a proposed change, intended to help us eliminate bot registrations, on how we manage accounts that are never accessed. When a newcomer registers for the SWG, the account is locked until a moderator can review it. This is not a gatekeeping strategy, and all Tolkien fans are welcome and approved as quickly as we can. However, we cull obvious bot registrations at this time, which based on our most recent registration data, is about 15% of registrations. After moderator approval, the new member is notified and can log into and use their account fully.

Currently, about 20% of those newcomers never log into their account once approved. Some of this is life: Most of us have registered for a website with best intentions of using it and discovered that time or inclination withers away quickly thereafter. This is a normal part of running a site like ours and in no way a concern or problem. However, thanks to the ever-growing creep of AI, we are also aware that bot registrations are likely to become more sophisticated. Unfortunately, my recent attempts to contact a few never-accessed members about their accounts and getting no response confirms that we might have arrived at this era.

It is in the best interest of everyone to not have bot registrations on the site that can potentially use their access to features like fanworks, comments, and member contact forms to bother SWG members with spam or malicious content. Given this, the SWG moderators the following change to our Site Etiquette and Terms of Service:

  • If six months pass and a new account is never logged into, we will contact that person using the email registered on the site to allow them to keep their account.
  • If we receive a reply, we will keep the account open. There is no obligation for the member to log into the account or use it or maintain any minimum level of activity.
  • If we don't hear a reply within two weeks, we will delete the account.
  • Note that this applies only to new accounts that have never been logged into. Once a person logs into their account, they can keep it forever and use it as much or as little as they like.

We are interested in input on this policy change. You can share your thoughts by replying to this email or joining the discussion in the #town-hall channel on our Discord. Thank you to all who have shared input so far!

And finally, a reminder that our current challenge, The Only Thing to Fear, has one week remaining during which to post fanworks if you'd like to receive a stamp for your creation.

SWG News

New Challenge: Epic 80s
This month's challenge features hundreds of fresh prompts from the bodacious decade of the 1980s.

Cultus Dispatches: Communities Do Comment
Comment data from the SWG underscores community as an essential component to a robust commenting culture.

Instadrabbling Sessions for July, August, and September
Instadrabbling continues on the first Saturday of each month on our Discord server.

New Fanworks

Is it raining with you? by AdmirableMonster [Writing]

In the last days of Númenor, two very different men meet in Umbar and fall in love.

(Please note that while this work is heavily inspired by Disco Elysium, no knowledge of the game is necessary to read the fic!)

Read more ...

Wrensong and Roses by Isilme_among_the_stars [Writing]

Concerned by his responses to the paraphernalia of healing, Fingon steals Maedhros from his room for an impromptu garden excursion. Maedhros battles with dark thoughts.

Read more ...

Bon(e)fire by Fuin [Writing]

On the night before the battle, Caranthir and his ally share thoughts about their peoples' traditions:

Burning bones ward off evil.

Read more ...

McShady by Babblecat [Writing]

Melkor has himself a bad time in the Void. 

 

Read more ...

Updated Fanworks

A Thousand Winds that Blow by StarSpray [Writing]

When uneasy dreams bring him back into Beleriand, Daeron finds a pair of twins who have lost their home, and an enemy who has lost himself. The Shadow's reach is growing ever longer, and if they are to survive, they must do it together.

Read more ...

Nasyalossë by Lovimmy3365 [Writing]

Erestor lay up against a tree, brown washed to black in the wet of the snow. The black disc of the new moon sailed across the dark sky. Erestor wished it were gone. He had no need to look into dark eyes any longer.

He was dying.

(AKA Erestor unwittingly travels back in time to the days between the Dagor Bragollach and the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, meets the sons of Feanor, Thingol and his ilk, many Laiquendi, many Dwarves, and Men besides, and THEN decides to solve the drowning of Beleriand himself. This has nothing to do with his personal problems. Nope. Not at all. Erestor is having regular feelings.)

Read more ...

Until the Stars are All Alight by Dagstjarna [Writing]

Reembodied in Aman, Celebrimbor decides to return to Middle earth to help heal the darkness and hurt wrought by the ring. 

Read more ...

From That Rubble by StarSpray [Writing]

Fëanor shrugged, studying the contents of his wine glass. “Something must be done about that house. It will fall down eventually.”
“It does not follow that it must be you that tears it down single-handedly. Are you sure you do not want help?”
“It’s not as though I have much else to do. I need to build something new there,” he said after a few moments. “To do that, I must first clear away the old and broken things.”

Decades out of Mandos, too many things in Fëanor's life remain broken. He can't do anything except wait for his sons to come to him, but he can do something about the old and crumbling house where they once lived. 

Read more ...

The Mirror Crack'd by AdmirableMonster [Writing]

Rescued from a brutal Angband hunt, an ex-thrall with a strange and powerful artifact embedded in his spine is brought to Himring, for it is one of the only places in Beleriand which welcomes such folk. Though he has no memories of his life before, Anniavas slowly becomes accustomed to his new life and finds he has a queer connection with Maedhros, Himring's lord. As their intimacy grows, however, so do the dangers surrounding them, both without and within. What secrets are hidden inside the depths of Anniavas's lost memories--and how will those with whom he is forging and deepening bonds react, when those secrets are at last revealed?

Read more ...

Eä's Redemption by AaronAzrael [Writing]

This is my new poetical attempt to add my own interpretation to Tolkien's Cosmology as to Eru's Creation and the Valar's minds and behind-the-scene providence reasons and mechanisms.. I often review Eä as part of our own world, just in another dimension, this is why I have always seriously thought on the matter who the Ainur are, who Eru is, how he matches our own religious pantheon, and this has been conducted after serious research of many esoteric teachings of our own planet's heritage.

Read more ...

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Scribbles and Drabbles 2026
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Tolkien Disability Pride 2026
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Tolkien Gen Week 2026
Tolkien Gen Week will run from July 6-12, 2026 to appreciate all of the incredible characters and relationships within Tolkien’s legendarium that fall under the broad category of “gen.”