I think we need to find a way to better tv discussion. More threads, with more easily understood categories, would probably help.

We should be careful about going for categories that are too easily defined. Some of the suggestions the last time we got into this felt like the equivalent of alphabetizing the kitchen (spoons with the salt, forks with the fondue pot).

I think if we take the time and do the more difficult work of answering brenda's question and find a way to boil it down to a cogent slug for each new thread we'll have much more interesting discussions and all be happier for it. It may turn out that the resulting thread descriptions will still need to include a show list in order to be clear enough to everyone.

I don't feel we need to answer this question for all television all at once. There is value in discussing how shows fit together and dealing with one or two groupings at a time will lead to better groupings.

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.

Think about the opposite situation. I sometimes lurk in Premium, largely because it’s low-volume and I’m aware of the shows, even if I’ve hardly ever watched them. If I wander in because I'm goofing off at work, and I learn all about what's happening on The Shield this season, I'll be pissed. Because I love the show, but I’ve watched it on DVD and right now I’m several seasons behind.

That's why I want to have at least a fighting chance of understanding what I'll find in a thread before I go into it.

I don't think there's an argument in favour of inaccurate thread descriptions and slugs that I could buy. I am all about the metadata.

I don't think there's an argument in favour of inaccurate thread descriptions and slugs that I could buy.

I insist on less accurate thread descriptions and completely misleading slugs! You have to earn your way into a thread. None of this candyass reading and then choosing. There's no vetting! Anybody who's literate could immediately go to the proper thread.

I don't think there's an argument in favour of inaccurate thread descriptions and slugs that I could buy.

Heh. I hope you don't think my post was an argument for inaccuracy. If it reads that way then I really need to sleep before I post again.

I may be putting words in her mouth, but I think what ita was arguing against is letting the thread go to where it wants to go, and then figuring out how it fits together after. In the meantime, before the figuring out, the slug and discription will not reflect reality, and will risk the situation Strega is worried about (and duly so, IMO).

That doesn't have to happen though, because SA and the others in favor of this expansion have listed the show titles they'd like included.

I'm really starting to think David's solution of easily created/easily destroyed TV threads as the only real solution, and then basically creating a thread for whatever show or small tight group of shows people want to create. We set a threshold of activity, and each thread sinks or swims on its own.

I think the bright lines argument is valid. In fact, I've talked with many people who would love to have more TV threads, so it's more obvious where to go to talk about a particular show (and I know several people who are really dissatisfied with Boxed Set, and do not think at all that it is obvious what shows should be discussed in there).

Even though I do think that The Shield and The Riches are of a kind with Deadwood, Dexter and Rome (to an extent) I think that adding FX shows to Premium would only muddy those waters, to the detriment of the thread (even though I would very much like to discuss those shows with SA, amych, and many others who post in Premium.

I also think that discussing TV shows in Natter beyond an extremely superficial level is incredibly dissatisfying, both for white font and signal to noise ratio reasons. I also think that this is an almost, but not quite, Universal sentiment on the board.

But I do see where there's valid concern about attracting too much attention and traffic.

After reading this discussion, those are the issues as I understand them.

Looking at those issues, the only two choices that make sense to me, and come even close to satisfying most people (we'll never satisfy everybody) are:

1. Something akin to David's idea, or

2. We decide that we are not TWOP, and we just don't discuss TV shows here any more.

Are there other options that even remotely satisfy both the bright lines need and the need to find a place what we want to discuss (that place not necessarily being here in b.org -- we really do not have to be all things to all people)?

SA and the others in favor of this expansion have listed the show titles they'd like included

Different lists, though. At least as far as I can tell. SA wants all FX hour long serial dramas. Amych seems to want to include by type instead, ignoring the originating channel.

serial:

do not think at all that it is obvious what shows should be discussed in there

What shows are fuzzy for them? I can imagine, say, Life On Mars, but past that I'm not sure.