I AM SOOOOOOO 1,000% ON-BOARD WITH THIS!!! Everything looks fantastic! How exciting!
Haha, exactly. I just have a kneejerk reaction to seeing obviously talented 'LotR' cosplay types, I think 'ahh, if only they were crafting with barktanned leather, metal, and linen instead of vinyl 'leather', craft foam, and cotton broadcloth. At the very least, I just want to drag them through the mud and leaves.
I fully admit, I started out exactly as you have described above. But I'd like to think I've come a long, loooooooooong way since those days, if I may be so immodest. I agree with Elleth here, in that I love what they did with much of the Jackson films (even though they may have been far from perfect as adaptations) and if it weren't for those movies, I almost certainly would never have become so interested in Tolkien's Legendarium. So, if for no other reason than that, I'm exceedingly thankful for them; they make an excellent "gateway drug," haha.
For me though, that's what a page like this would really be all about. Sort of a web-based billboard saying "HEY YOU! Are you a huge J.R.R. Tolkien fan? If so, COOL! If not... well did you see the Lord of the Rings films? And are you interested in immersing yourself in the culture and history of Middle-Earth? THEN, BOY HOWDY HAVE WE GOT A HOBBY FOR YOU!"
But having the sort of "cover-page" site like this will also allow a lot of people who are only casually interested to come have a look, explore our pictures, drool a little over how very, very, super-amazingly-cool we all are (naturally), and then go on their merry way... and in theory, tell their friends about it afterwards! That way, if we WERE to hand out a business card with just the site's name and main page URL on it, the casual person could still go look at it and say, "wow, so THAT'S who those crazy people in cloaks were! I had no idea this was a real thing!"
Which brings me to...
The only thing that makes my eyetwitch is Manv's suggestion that we would need a group name. While I'm not a fan of monoculture, I've noticed in this hobby/sport/lifestyle that there's an awful lot of splintering (at least when it comes to facebook groups)...with the result that each has a handful of members, instead of a larger umbrella organization with a large membership.
Okay, so I totally get what you're saying here, and in general I agree... but for me, it comes down to this: when I'm out and about, I want to be able to tell people, "Oh yeah, I'm part of this online community called BLABLAHBLAH." And unfortunately, when people hear "The Middle Earth Ranger Forum," they just think of an online message board - a place for people to come and chat with each other. Doesn't sound very interesting or "official." But what we have here is almost an international "club," for lack of a better word (though of course it's an open club, without membership or bylaws, etc). So a name like "Middle Earth Ranger Society" works well for that. However, if JBook would not opposed to us using it as an umbrella term, I'd be perfectly happy using the "Middle Earth Reenactment Society," myself (though since that organization is his baby, I entirely defer to him on that matter).
Aaaaaaaaanyway, moving on to less abstract concepts, I have to say I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to help submit content to the site! I've got LOTS of great photos that will work, and I am happy to share them! And I think it would be cool if we could include the video Greg has been working on in the front page, once it's finished.
I really like the "Bootstrap" style for the page, and I love where you're going with it, Caedmon. I also agree with Elleth that the little map-path animation as you scroll is really cool and I'd love it if we could manage it.
Otherwise, I'm happy to draw maps, help track down royalty-free images, etc. Whatever you need!