I'm kind of leaning towards proposing a provisional or probationary thread for the FX shows, or provisionally expanding the definition of Premium.
I'm ready to just push the discussion in a different direction.
I also think that the positions on this discussion have become fairly set over time and maybe that in itself is less useful for the board. I'm eager to throw some stuff against the wall and see if it sticks.
The book club thread didn't work, but it was useful to try it just because we learned something about our culture. What
kind
of discussion we can readily maintain here. In short, I'm feeling experimental and curious to test theories instead of arguing them.
I don't feel that maintaining bright lines dissuades discussion. Rather I think it facilitates it, by allowing newcomers and new-to-the-show-comers to easily find where the discussion is happening. I think it avoids ongoing meta with discussion inthread about whether or not a particular show is appropriate and thus improves the signal to noise ratio.
David speaks for me.
Also, I should point out that I don't watch most of the new shows under consideration for inclusion in the thread, and I'm generally pretty spoiler-averse. However, without people talking about shows that seem to be similarly situated to shows I already like, I'd have a hard time finding new shows to watch. So, generally speaking, the possibility of learning that X character is doing Y in Season N isn't going to put me off the show.
improves the signal to noise ratio.
I totally said static to noise back there, didn't I? This is what I wanted -- signal to noise.
::is dUm::
I'm kind of leaning towards proposing a provisional or probationary thread for the FX shows, or provisionally expanding the definition of Premium.
I think that defining a thread by television channel is a clear way to let people know where to discuss a given show.
Beyond that, I'm not sure it's useful. Because it sounds to me like the *type* of discussion that SA -- and others (Corwood, David, amych?) -- want to have is a discussion that is able to encompass shows that air on more than one channel.
For instance, SA once told me about the similarities between Brian Kinney from Queer As Folk and the dude from Nip/Tuck who also was on Charmed (can't remember his name; not important for my example anyway).
Queer as Folk aired on HBO or maybe Showtime (uh, I think), and Nip/Tuck was on FX. Right now, that discussion couldn't take place, given how the Premium thread is currently defined (HBO, yes; FX, no). And, like David said, Natter is too diffuse to sustain such discussion.
It sounds to me that what's wanted is a thread where in-depth discussion of complex shows can take place. SA, Corwood, David, et al.: is that a more or less accurate statement?
Issues with such a thread:
(1) Define "in-depth."
(2) Define "complex shows."
(3) If a thread already exists for a "complex show" (Heroes, let's say, or Drive), then where does that show get discussed?
(4) Holy crap, all the whitefont. Or, conversely, all the spoilage.
I don't have an answer, and I don't really have a dog in this hunt. I'm just trying to help tease out what kind of a thread is really wanted. It doesn't sound like it has anything to do with what show airs on what channel, and it doesn't actually sound like it has much to do with fucking and swearing.
It sounds like....a general teevee thread, actually, with the stated intention of in-depth discussion.
In-depth discussion is good, but what's the best way to facilitate that?
OK, I've been thinking. I'll try not to ramble. I do like discussing TV with people here. And I've found myself going to TWoP more and more often to see what people think about shows. However, I don't want to lose natter in the process of creating threads with more and more specialized thread groups-- I also like the melting pot aspect of natter.
I am starting to think that I could go along with three TV threads:
- one for drama, and that includes Premium (check the dramatic forum at TWoP, that's what I mean);
- one for comedy (e.g. Adult Swim, HIMYM) and
- one for non-fiction tv-- this would include docus like Planet Earth and TAL, and reality television like TAR.
Not ready to make a formal proposal yet; I'd wonder if I'm not seeing the potential shows that fall in the cracks (anime?). Yes, this is three general TV threads. But it seems clear to me that we're not serving our needs without dealing with the TV thread problem. As far as whitefont goes, yes, it would be a lot of whitefont with the name of the show at the beginning. It would be like natter.
I don't feel that maintaining bright lines dissuades discussion. Rather I think it facilitates it, by allowing newcomers and new-to-the-show-comers to easily find where the discussion is happening. I think it avoids ongoing meta with discussion inthread about whether or not a particular show is appropriate and thus improves the signal to noise ratio.
I know that's the theory, but really it isn't all that hard to find a thread for discussion. You pop your head into Natter and say "Where are we talking about Rome" and somebody points to the Premium thread. Or you try to talk about Rome in Boxed Set and somebody redirects you.
I don't really see scads of newcomers roaming lost on the boards anyhow.
I think you'll get a very clear bright line if we take a more experimental approach. Otherwise (until we run into band width issues) the trend will continue where popular single show threads will be voted in. It would be beneficial to the anti-proliferationists to address
that
very slow moving slippery slope. There will always be pressure to add new show threads - so let's find a way to accommodate that
and
keep clean bright lines by lowering the barrier to creating show threads, but creating some probationary structure to prune them out if they fail to maintain discussion.
Bon's approach is also an interesting new direction.
My concern there is that from my admittedly unscientific observation threads function best with something like 3 to 5 shows, and that having such large buckets will inevitably lead to big white font gaps.
So I'd think we'd need something like a rule that says it's open season for discussion on any show that aired that day without whitefont.
If you go into the general TV threads then you have to be willing to risk spoilage if you've saved things on TiVo and haven't watched them yet.
and that having such large buckets will inevitably lead to big white font gaps.
So I'd think we'd need something like a rule that says it's open season for discussion on any show that aired that day without whitefont.
I feel like if I can deal with a lot of whitefont in natter, I can deal with it in another large thread. I do do a lot of timeshifting though-- work late a lot of nights, Bob has classes, some nights are better TV than others. So I wouldn't want to avoid such a large thread so frequently.
