FWIW, I didn't find it confusing either.

I found it slightly confusing, but not enough that I feel my vote was miscast. I was mainly confused as why there wasn't a straight out "do you want this thread" question before the spoiler policy questions.

I think the vote probably would have gone as it did however the ballot was worded.

That being said, I do think it's a problem that people come forward after the vote (and this isn't unique to this ballot) to raise concerns, after four days of a near-empty Lightbulbs thread. We seem to have created a situation where people are very reluctant to speak up during the balloting process, and that worries me.

Also, a point of order: The six-month period only applies to the Fall TV/General TV proposals, yes? Not to, e.g., a Bones thread or a Ghost Whisperer thread?

Just personally, it wasn't reluctance on my part, it was that I wasn't heavily invested in this particular issue. I think I posted my one point of confusion in the beginning, and by the time we got to spoilers and how to word the ballot, I ran out of steam for discussion. That kind of thing, to me - the nitty-gritty of wording a ballot - I've got to be really interested in the issue to want to go there. (ETA: Also, I figure I'll be able to figure it out once it's done, and so far, I've been able to.)

I wish I had known there was such a lack of interest because I wouldn't have gone forward.

LeN - I'm sorry you're discouraged. I think, though, that best way we have to gauge interest in something is to go ahead and make the proposal and, if it's sufficiently seconded, have the discussion and vote.* I mean, if you'd asked me how the vote was going to go, I'd have predicted it would pass. So I'm glad you proposed it, becuse the question is settled for the time being, at least. I'm not sure there was a way for you to know ahead of time the relative interest or lack of interest.

*Not that I think every issue needs a vote (or proposal and discussion, for that matter), because, boy howdy, I do not.

We seem to have created a situation where people are very reluctant to speak up during the balloting process, and that worries me.

Because we have the same conversation over and ove, which is why Liese had to ask for the people against thread proliferation to speak up in the previous vote. And because we just had voted a thread into existance a week ago, so if that's the way we are headed as a community, why should I bother to tilt at windmills? I am not reluctant to going on record about thread proliferation, but it seems that there's little point.

Better to just vote against it then to engage in a discussion that pisses me (and maybe others) off.

Because we have the same conversation over and ove

It feels that way from the other side of the fence, too, and I agree that it's frustrating.

I thought engaging in discussions that piss us off was in the mission statement.

It feels that way from the other side of the fence, too,

I'm sure it does and that's why I deliberately chose the pronoun I did.

I don't think resignation and reluctance are the same thing though.

I don't think it was a simple enough issue to have a simple ballot, frankly.

And it's very easy for one person's simple (in this scenario) to mean something quite different when unpacked for someone else.

I think (prolif aside) that having a thread to talk current TV is a great idea.

I also think it's hella impractical, and LeN ran up against that, big time.

Better to just vote against it then to engage in a discussion that pisses me (and maybe others) off.

This is my feeling as well. (And FWIW, I didn't think it was a confusing ballot. I voted No because I didn't want another new thread, not because I couldn't parse the options.)

Personally, I think Lightbulbs is not the place for a general discussion on thread proliferation aka Who Are We Now And Where Are We Going, and I'm glad we didn't have too much of that this time around. If that's a talk that needs to happen again (and I'm not saying it does or doesn't), it should happen in here, without being tied to a specific thread proposal. In here, it can be a discussion. In Lightbulbs, it's always going to be a debate, because there's always a specific vote on the line.