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human
[LoTR] Question about Moria's Destruction

I run a little tavern in one of the more rougher neighborhoods of Minas Tirith.  Not much of a place, but it was good enough for my Da and his Da before him, so I'm happy to call it mine.  Things were bad during the siege and the war, but they've been so much better since King ~~Aragorn~~ Elessar took the throne.

Late last Saturday evening, our usual crowd of drunks and brawlers were graced by an elf and a dwarf, a tough looking pair whose fine garb would look more appropriate in the palace than my little hovel.  After some mead flowed, I discovered that they were none other than the legendary Legolas and Gimli and that they had indeed ducked out of a rather boring state dinner looking for a "rougher, more interesting place" (the Elf's words, not mine)!

I was able to convince them to accept their refreshment on the house as a thanks for saving our fair city (and my not so fair neighborhood), and was even more delighted when they began telling some tales of their time during the war.  Every patron in my humble establishment was captivated by the pair's recounting of their adventures at Helm's Deep, at Morannon, and in Moria.

And this is what confuses me.  I understand that dwarves keep to themselves and that Moria was an isolated colony far away from their fellows.  As such it is not surprising that news of the goblins taking Moria and slaying Gimil's kinsman Balin might not have gotten out quickly.  But this happened *years* before the Fellowship entered the mines.  Somehow no one anywhere had heard of the disaster in Moria.  Gimli said with tears in his eyes that he had been honestly expecting to meet his kinfolk there.

How could this have been missed?  A huge colony of dwarves might decide to cut off all contact with men or elves, but with all other dwarves?  And no traveler or merchant thinks to wander by and check in on what might have happened?  For *years*?  Yet, this jibes with everything else I've heard about what happened there.  Somehow I just never gave it any thought until I heard those two talking about skeletons and spiderwebs in front of my fire.  

All I can think is that I must have missed part of the story when I was running back to the kitchen to keep everyone's plate full.  Does anyone know what really happened?  Why no one, not even other dwarves, would notice Moria was conquered?
gpt
Dwarves are an insular people by nature, and the way to Moria is treacherous.  It's not unheard of for Dwarves to seal themselves off from the surrounding lands, refusing contact with men and Elves.  Other dwarves would, theoretically, have been welcome, but you have to once again remember that *Dwarves are an insular people.*  They're unlikely to make the journey to Moria for the same reasons why it's not entirely unexpected for them to never *leave* Moria.

Furthermore, the Dwarven people have been steadily migrating the the Lonely Mountain for the past few decades.  Every dwarf inclined to travel would have heard of the open invitation, and made *that* their destination, rather than sullen old Moria.

For what it's worth, Gandalf drops hints that he is aware of what happened in Moria, or at least it's known to him that it's not a safe place.  This is the reason the Fellowship of the ring tried to cross over the mountains, rather than head straight down to Moria.