Rise and fall and birth of Dolling Forums

Forums are a great way to bind a community together. There are forums about any subject you can think of, but dolling forums are something special. If you want to get involved with the community, it is necessary to find the doll forum you fit in with.

Over time there have been a few well known doll forums. Each was distinct and unique. They attracted a certain type of doller and promoted a certain kind of dolling. Forums can be a very closed off community. It is easy to get the idea that dolling only is done a certain way. But there are as many different dollers as forums, each with their own rules about interacting and dolling. And as each forum at some point dies, new forums with new rules pop up.

Enchanted Eden, WTM?! and Fairytopia

One of the oldest big doll forums was Eden Enchanted, also know as EE. It closed in 2008, leaving many dollers lost as where to go next. What The Muffin?! (WTM) was the next bigger forum that disappeared. I actually signed up for WTM, but somehow the admins didn't have time to approve new members anymore. And Fairytopia has closed down, after announcing a move to another URL. Where EE and WTM were still active forums though, FT was seeing a decline in activity over the last year.

Update June 2011: some of the art work and exclusive bases can be found on the deviantART account EdenEnchantedplz.

Update December 2011: Autumnvale fills the void FT and TG left behind.

A long-lasting doll forum was The Gathering (closed down in 2012), a forum started by Xandorra. Even though Xandorra was no longer active in the dolling community, the forum still managed to keep active until 2011. It was a great board for support of any kind. It also hosted the annual Make a Doll a Day in May (Madadim) for two consecutive years.

Update January 2012: TG has a dA group

Dystopia, Autumnvale, Pixel Princess,  Glam! and Pixel Empire

Forums that are still active and going strong are Pixel Princess, a forum that has been running for a long time, and has a close knit community. It feels like a cozy forum, where you can find a lot of great dollers.

Two new forums are Dystopia and Autumnvale. Dystopia is a place with a darker edge, where alternative dolls and humour are appreciated. Autumnvale is more along the lines of cosy forums such as Fairytopia and The Gathering.

The black-tie dolling community Glam! is full of new posts every day. The atmosphere is fun loving  and there are plenty of activities going on. It has a mixture of new dollers and dollers returning from old forums.

Though Pixel Empire is a closed-off forum, it has its merits. It has the option for members to apply for a contest forum, where they can hold their own contests. There are lots of contests and activities going on every month. In the section for forum games members can have fun with silly games, but there is also a portal to a more extended forum game, where you can play a character.

New Doll Forums

There are still new doll forums opening. But because the community is smaller than you think, and people have usually found their preferred forum already, it is hard to make a successful new forum for dollers. Then again, not every forum needs to be big and active. Sometimes it is great to be a part of a smaller community and get to know a few dollers much better than on a bigger forum.

It never hurts to sign up for a few forums and look around to see if this is the forum for you. You may find you prefer smaller forums so that you get better feedback. Or that you prefer bigger forums where lots of different things happen. Either way, once you find your own forum spot, you will have made a big step getting involved in the dolling community.

Update January 2012:

Because this is the most read and found article on The Manor Dollhouse Magazine, I will put an update on current and open doll forums here.

• Glam! - all ages, mature attitude prefered
• The Gathering - friendly, supportive community *is closing down
• Pixel Princess - fun and active community with forum dollmaker
• Pixel Empire - fantasy based forum with contests sections
• Flaming Pixels - for all levels of skill
• Colors of the Seven Oceans Contests - contest forum for Seira's site
• The Last Gate - fantasy based forum
• The Backstage Lounge moderate 18+ forum, christian overtones, no nudity and gore allowed, closed off for guests
• Dystopia, - darker themed forum with an alternative edge
• Forgotten Eden - fantasy based forum closed off for guests
• Whispering Winds - pagan/wicca forum for open-minded dollers (inactive)
• Autumnvale - friendly board for fun dolling, with lots of activities

If you have a forum about dolls, let me know!