The Derndingle of Mystery - huh?

[Lirimaer]

Does anyone know what the DoM was all about? I mean Hoth and Six's rp thingy, Derndingle of Mystery ...

This was my takeaway from it: Secretive shenanigans in a house involving nudge nudge wink wink references all over the plaza. Confusion abounded when I did ask, and swiftly became bored with the level at which I was involved, which was, I believe, mildly-interested bystander. Since I got burn-out around the time it was all going on, I have no idea what happened next, and by the time I came back it was forgotten.

So, can anyone enlighten me?

[Silky Gooseness]

I remember RPing in it and I have a bunch of icons in my photo bucket with the DoM border on, but weirdly I cannot in the slightest recall the storyline or who I was even RPing... I think at one point we were in Mirkwood, because there’s a number of distressing spider icons in there.

@Tzülien might recall??

[Nia]

Ahh so that's what DoM is!! I found an icon* on my old (now abandoned to the abyss) photobucket account, with DoM on, and I didn't know what it was.

But I definitely have no recollection of secretive house shenanigans or cloak and dagger references dotted around elsewhere on the plaza, so I'm beginning to come to the embarrassing conclusion that young Nia ignorantly decided to make herself an icon in the style of all the other cool kids around town, with no actual understanding of what she was doing, or why. What's even more embarrassing is that I chose a photo of Aly from Aly and AJ.

*which I have miraculously somehow managed to use all my cunning to recover:

[Eldy Dunami]

I participated in the DoM in early 2009, during my brief attempt at becoming a consistent poster in the RP forums. This was well after the demise of Houses, so by that time there was (to the best of my memory) a private, invite-only DoM forum. People made DoM posts sprinkled throughout various RP threads on the public side of the Plaza, and there was a place to post the links to all of your DoM posts in order. This might've been in the private forum, though I wanna say there was a link archive hosted off-site. Maybe both.

DoM posts always had those icons, as @Nia mentions (pictured below: the one I used; the third-oldest image in my now-abandoned Photobucket). I suppose that may have been cryptic to people who were unfamiliar with the concept. Then again, I got into the DoM somehow, so by 2009, at least, I don't think it was a closely guarded secret.

[Moriel]

Oh man, I was such a small part of the DoM and it was so long ago I don't really even remember what it was all about. Somewhere I have an icon.

[Lirimaer]

I am not feeling that any of you were in the inner sanctum, as it were!

I recall having an icon ... I made it with one of those dress-up doll things, and vaguely recall the character was wildly competent at everything she did, trying to impress the bigwigs with how important she was ... so very childish! I think I must have made at least 2 posts, but I do remember it not mattering what I was writing because it wasn't part of the actual action going on - it was a big turn off.

I kind of got the feeling it was an ego massage for certain RPers and them just including everyone in their characters' private arcs and that was also a turn off. I get that they tried to include people, but all the secrecy meant that I had no idea what was going on and didn't feel included at all. From your responses already, I am feeling like you all were in the dark as much as me.

That being said, I would like to know what the actual premise was and what came of it - was it actually about trying to release Morgoth from the Void, or is that a myth I cooked up in my own brain?

[Nia]

Nope, I definitely wasn't in any form of inner sanctum!

To be honest, I think if I'd had any inkling of the exclusivity of it - as you were clearly more attuned to - I would have been too intimidated to join in. So the only other thing I can think of is that it turned into something else, which is when the likes of me and @Eldy Dunami may have joined and it was less of a secret?

Although that all being said, I still have no memory of a private forum or off-site archive, so maybe I made an icon and then chickened out.

[Balfur]

Ah DoM. I have no idea when I joined that Derdingle (and I am pretty sure I still don't know what that word actually means), but I remember thinking it was a great mystery. This thought was mainly aided by my then rather poor understanding of the English language. Yet apparently the mystery was not great enough to remember anything of it. Though the "release Morgoth from the Void" plot does ring a bell. So it is possible you didn't cook that one up, @Lirimaer.
I do remember the invite only Forum too. But if that was around 2009 I can't imagine I was much a part of it, because that's when uni started for me and I had to deal with the great mysteries of living on my own and stuff like that.

[Dwim]

I have no idea what DoM was apart from what's been said here. I remember seeing it around and wondering, but never really bothering to investigate.

@Balfur, as for Derndingle itself, it's the place where the Ents held their Entmoot in Fangorn. :smiley8:

[Lirimaer]

Well, thanks for trying to dredge your memories for info anyway - I appreciate the effort in those dusty archives!

Perhaps it's destined to remain a mystery for all time.

[Narv]

I found this in my plaza pic folder so evidently I attempted to participate at some point very briefly



But I have no further information other than thanks I forgot what it was called

[Eldy Dunami]

This thread inspired me to make the mistake of digging through the documents in my old Plaza folder to find my DoM posts and outlines from when I was 14 and holy fredegar they are so bad.

[Lirimaer]

Oh! .... Do tell!

[Eldy Dunami]

I take the Fifth.

[Lirimaer]

Boooooo!

[Fairy Nuff]

I'm so glad I am not the only one who ahs been wondering about the DoM - saw it around the place, back in the day (way way back like 2003/2004 in Isengard and Fangorn which were my main haunts) but was never included in it and always felt left out and/or left behind by whatever was going on. The DoMers having a secret house then forum makes so much sense now, I never knew that part.

I can't even remember who was involved - Hoth, BB, Six for sure, but I am sure there were other prominent people too...maybe Elen Sila, Wedgie? Trying to remember which Ents I saw too..

[Taethowen]

I was apparently briefly involved. I have an icon and a character bio saved in my old, old files. But nothing super-enlightening, LOL.

[Nia]

A. Conan Doyle, The Origins of the Derndingle of Mystery, ed.1, The World Wide Web, c.2003

[Lirimaer]

O_O

[Nia]

I dunno, in my head the more I see the term Derndingle of Mystery, the more I can't help thinking it could have been the title of something he'd have written about, had he not, you know, popped his clogs in 1930.

[Nia]

But I might also be somewhat delirious with self inflicted sleep deprivation, so I'll be going now. :smiley8:

[Narv]

I think we're all choosing to believe that that was a veiled hint as to the origins, nature and ultimate meaning of DoM, and possibly also that you are Hoth

[Lirimaer]

I don't remember it being around until later than 2004

This is what the internet tells me ... but I am not enlightened.

Derndingle of Mystery
The Council of Hope

[Narv]

Based on those articles I have concluded that DoM was possibly an elaborate sales pitch to sell me steak knives or some other equally hype-driven product

But the last one linked here -- I can't be bothered to read it but maybe it has some answers about the plot? https://web.archive.org/web/20160818110 ... TID=169795

[Lirimaer]

Well, um ... it's a little late for me. Yawn. Um ... so much text. Maybe I was just uninterested in reading reams of catch-up ... it wasn't pique that I wasn't in on it at all!!

[Lirimaer]

Of course, it would help if I wasn't mentioned in it by name ... LOL

Okay, I read it. It seems I was destined to be a bad guy in that story! How very wrong. I blame Mo for being too charismatic an evil lord.

[Winddancer]

Dont know what this is, but said DoM in google: http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseporta ... ange=20,20

[Túrin]

I was very briefly involved, I think. Nobody ever explained the purpose, general plot, or even immediate prompts like "We're going here."

Some time later I got the sense that it was just an elaborate hoax to get people interacting and going about the kingdoms RPing.

[Winddancer]

Some time later I got the sense that it was just an elaborate hoax to get people interacting and going about the kingdoms RPing.

If that is so, what an awesome hoax <3 And why was I not part of it!? :P

[Lirimaer]

My own memory is much at fault it seems. I was up to my eyes in it! My role in that list is troubling, though. "Dark side" I can see. But "Retired captain"????? implies a level of understanding and participation in planning that just wasn't there.

I don't remember even roleplaying with other people either. It was all, 'write your story - log it here' and despite it being a very lonely affair, it seems that my posts were noted and my role was made much bigger than I suspected.

With my character's motivations echoing my own kingdom change on the plaza, [maia in service to Sauron/Morgoth, well - technically, Mo ] I poured so much of myself into her, I was unwilling to see her come to a Sharkey end: fighting the good guys. I vaguely remember, after reading the previous link Narv highlighted, that I felt railroaded by events which seemed to come to a head all of a sudden. It felt very real, because of the way the DoM was done (a story emerging in real time) with no planning or even conversations about the direction/outcome of the roleplay (much like life).

I could see her coming to a bad end, arrayed against the Powers of Arda, and I could find no compelling reason to actually continue down the path I seemed to be on. I think, perhaps, that I may have abruptly let the whole thing down, if I was their chief evildoer, since I have a vague memory, I think, of writing a remorseful post, remembering her calling as an Istar, 'dying' and her letting her spirit flee back to Manwe in hopes of salvation.

I guess no one thinks of themselves as a bad guy, but I clearly wasn't able to separate character from self, and I didn't actually like [me] being a real bad guy, either.

TL;DR I guess I knew more than I thought, and I didn't like it!

Thanks for exploring this walk through my psyche with me ...

[Túrin]

If that is so, what an awesome hoax <3 And why was I not part of it!? :P

Fully agreed, on both counts! When I first had the thought that it was a hoax (in the sense that there wasn't any sort of an overarching plan - about which I admit that I could be entirely mistaken) I thought it was a clever one.

My own memory is much at fault it seems. I was up to my eyes in it! My role in that list is troubling, though. "Dark side" I can see. But "Retired captain"????? implies a level of understanding and participation in planning that just wasn't there.

Or up to your ears, perhaps?

I think you're the one that looped me in for a bit. Then you tootled off and I had no clue what to do (must have been like 19-20 at the time, without a creative bone in my body) so I think I just kind of stopped shortly thereafter.

[Lirimaer]

Well ... I have no memory of leading anyone anywhere, so ... ... up the garden path seems entirely possible! Sorry 'bout that!

[Esme]

Ok, this made me curious so I clicked that link to look if I was a member those days, cause I didn't recall anything about DOM at all. and oh, I was, and retired, too. I can't remember anything

[Aduchil]

From what I recall, DoM was a major RPG designed to imitate LotR. Not the same storyline, but one similar. Hence the "Council of Hope" thread, similar to the council of Elrond in the book. There would be a fellowship too, consisting of the different races (Aduchil was the Elven contingent, that was my involvement - poor man's Legolas). What we were supposed to do, fredegar me if I remember. Find a Silmaril? Something like that, probably.

[Lirimaer]

Well if someone in the fellowship can't remember ...

[Silky Gooseness]

classic legolassing right there

[Rálindë Fey]

Don't remember what it was about either, but I do remember I did tons of banners and many icons for it, including the border for DoM icons.

[Allacan ob Burzum]

I posted as a character in DoM, as a tattooed wolf for some reason, but sadly it doesn't look like my contributions were ever counted (I probably could never be bothered submitting the links because it was too much like housekeeping and so I just played but didn't expect involvement).

Here's a thought though; why don't we people of NuPlaza reclaim Derndingle of Mystery, and maybe choose what we want the big reveal to be?

[Lirimaer]

Ooooooh.

Interesting.

[Lail]

I can say for sure that DoM was another one of the many things I signed up for and never followed through on. I hardly remember it at all. I like the idea of a re-vamp but I also liked the idea of the original until it probably just became too big for me to keep up with.