Are folks bored? Lost? Ignored? Short-shrifted?

I think it's more a sense of, "What's the mission now?" We started out as a Buffy board. And when that went off the air, we still had Buffyverse with Angel.

Now that Angel has been canceled, our mission seems gone. So what's our new mission?

I think the answer is to be ourselves -- an intelligent, snarky board with an emphasis on pop culture. A mission will come along. Or maybe we're already too unwieldy a board for any single mission.

I guess as a board member who hasn't gone into ME verse show threads actively for a few years this never crossed my mind.

That said, your "be ourselves" idea seems the best approach. People should be able to do that without the confines of ME shows, right?

Short-shrifted?

Hey. No poking at shrift please.

In an ideal technical world where we weren't footing the bill, I'd be happy to see a thread for The OC, a thread for Alias, a thread for Tru Calling (which I don't watch), a thread for Everwood, etc.

But we are paying the rent and I'm willing to go without.

I also am good with how we are, even if it isn't perfect.

Isn't "mission" a bit strong of a term? We were drawn here for 3000 reasons, stay for 3000 more -- and so it will continue.

I'm honestly confused how a TV thread will help people better keep up with discussion of a TV show. Generally we talk about a show the day after it airs-- presumably that wouldn't change (and it's pretty easy to find in natter, too). And the discussion will be overtaken by discussion of more recent television airings-- that won't change, either.

I guess I'm saying, if you can't be in a fast-moving thread the day after it airs, why would the TV thread make it any easier than the discussion that occurs in Natter?

What a focused thread provides is continuity of discussion. Natter sweeps along at natterspeed, and if you're not there, you can't participate. Whereas a focused discussion board will move more slowly, and - in the instance of the music board at least - you can still participate even if you come upon a topic a day or so later.

Also - I'm presuming - that if certain subgroups were interested in particular shows, then they could watch-and-post or discuss that show when it aired. Not every show has enough of a quorum to generate that in Natter - but there are people who do watch the Gilmore Girls and if they had a focused place to discuss it then it would generate more and more interesting talk.

Why should we have a talk about board direction? I'd like to have a better sense of how we see our mandate now. We have in other discussions circled around the idea of keeping a focus on pop culture discussion and analysis with the usual natter.

Without some kind of focus (as we've had with ME shows), I'm afraid that every thread will devolve into separate Natter communities - as has already started to happen with Natter / Bitches / Minearverse. I don't think that's a positive trend. I do prefer keeping some tighter subjects at our core, and I think the recent movement to have the comics discussion full on in Jossiverse has been a positive and a focal point for interesting dialogue.

So I do think it would be valuable to discuss how we see ourselves, because I think it would be more divisive to have multiple separate natter communities, rather than topic discussion areas which draw people in from across other groups.

But Hec, music isn't like TV.

If I watch Arrested Development on Sundays, Everwood on Mondays, Gilmore Girls on Tuesdays and who knows what else, and, as will happen once I'm back in school, I can mostly only post at night, I can never use the thread for the intended purpose because of (1) spoilers and (2) being three hours behind a large group of people already discussing the episodes.

I'm also not bummed about separate natter communities. There have ALWAYS been seperate communities and we don't and shouldn't be all things to everyone.

Hell, even within a thread there are seperate natter communities, from the AM crowd to the PM crowd.

Why do you think that separate Natter communities are a bad thing, Hec? Do you think all the Natter should be in one place? There should be less of it?

Isn't "mission" a bit strong of a term?

Fair point. I was thinking of a thing that brings us all together the way the Buffyverse did.

Maybe that's impossible to recapture.

What a focused thread provides is continuity of discussion. Natter sweeps along at natterspeed, and if you're not there, you can't participate. Whereas a focused discussion board will move more slowly, and - in the instance of the music board at least - you can still participate even if you come upon a topic a day or so later.

This is my experience as well.

Kat, I'm not sure I understand your point. Are you saying it's easier for you to discuss those shows after they've aired in Natter?

I agree with Fred-Pete about wanting to know what our mission is. I was thinking more along the lines of mission statement, however...

as in is this

A community dedicated to discussions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly with humor, intelligence and obsessiveness.

what we are all about still?

WRT to separate Natter communities-- I realize we can't be all things to all people, but right now I can pretty much guess that everyone here was, at one time or another, was a fan of Buffy, Angel, Firefly or Wonderfalls. And that seems to be a common area. I feel vaguely uncomfortable that we could go into the future without that common ground at least.