Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2005/02/11/tolkien_site_ebay_sale/

Middle Earth for sale on eBay

Get in there before Sauron does

By Lucy Sherriff

Posted in On-Prem, 11th February 2005 14:17 GMT

ebaywatch logoDo you have unusually pointy ears, are your feet larger than average and slightly hairy, do you wander around caves, muttering to your self about nasty little hobbitses? If so, you might be interested in this lot, up for auction on eBay.

Planet-Tolkien.com, the place where people dream in High Elvish, is up for sale. The seller, Tarrant Costelloe, offers the site, a year's hosting, its source code and member base of over 5000. He says that the site gets an average of 60,000 visitors a day, and that the income from advertising alone is worth more than the £3,000 minimum bid.

The site is the UK’s largest leading resource on J.R.R. Tolkien, says Costelloe. Features include:

Polls, forums, journals, local and council news, private messenger, e-mail, chat, buddy-lists, reviews, real-time weather system based on the areas in middle-earth (which directly effects their spending of Mithril, a virtual currency that is automatically given to members on each unique login), art galleries, biographies, profiles, poems and so much more!

You're probably wondering why he is selling this Middle Earth paradise. Well, the time has come to move on, he says. "I am sorry to let her go, but, the time has come...for someone else with more energy to take over and give the members the new features and time they deserve."

Costelloe will be on hand for a month after the sale to explain how things work, and iron out kinks in the transfer. The site is run by a team of volunteers, and Costelloe asks that they be allowed to stay involved with the site after it is sold. In his description of the site, he adds: "The website is massive, it’s very advanced and there is far too much for me to write everything down here, so, I have setup a telephone number 0845 658 69 21 and e-mail address for anyone who wants more information."

There are four days left on the auction, so if you have an inner Gandalf who could do with a bit of exercise, get your browser over here. ®

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