bon bon, I like your idea. If we were to undertake something like that, I think I would want to see us keep Boxed Set, and change Premium Cable to "Premium Blend" (and let the expansion the current premium denizens are requesting happen). Then we could create a standard drama thread (for the rest of the dramas).
What were the other threads you mentioned -- non-scripted and comedy? Odds are that Veronica Mars is canceled. If it's not, it seems unlikely the new format will generate as many posts as the old, so it would be easy to fold into a drama thread, if necessary. Lost will continue, but it doesn't rack up that many posts these days, so it could be folded into Boxed Set, if need be.
I think, with big bucket threads like this, some shows will hardly ever be discussed. I mean, I know the threads sound like they'll be huge, but we don't all watch everything, and not everything we do watch inspires all that much posting. Some shows will rise to the top in each thread. If a show rises so far to the top that it threatens to take over a thread, then we can consider a show thread, and we won't have to be faced with the choice to open a show thread, only to have it generate a few dozen posts per week. We'll already know what kind of traffic it generates.
Sean, just so you know
Dr. Who, Torchwood, BSG,
and
Supernatural
seem to me to be the big shows in Boxed Set, now.
Heroes
was, but it's got it's own thread, which should pick up once this long hiatus is over.
Eureka
will likely continue to inspire postiness, when it starts its second season.
The Dresden Files
inspires a few posts each week.
bon bon, your proposal was for the drama/comedy/reality threads, right? I'd be in favor of something like that, though with slightly more narrowly-defined genres -- more like the "gritty anti-hero dramas with cussing and fucking and Shakespearian overtones" definition that we're slowly cobbling together -- that would still be clear enough for non-readers of that particular thread to still have a good idea of which shows get discussed there. The great difficulty there, of course, is coming up with those clear & useful definitions (I think listing show titles in the slugs or thread headers would definitely help) -- that's going to take both creativity and consensing.
I just don't think we can do it, and even if we do, we're back here in six months with an expansion of what seemed like a perfect description at the time. I like having a very broad description because (1) it provides finality to the TV debates and (2) prevents confusion over what shows go where.
I'm not sure that comedy or reality are threads that anyone is calling for, are they? I mean, I get why bon suggested them along with the other, structurally, but I don't think we actually need them. For me, anyway, the reality in Natter works fine. I don't watch many comedies - is there a need that I'm just not aware of? I know people talk about The Office and HIMYM sometimes, any others? Is Natter working for them?
Maybe it's just me; I watch a lot more comedy and reality/nonscripted than drama (I'm a philistine). Comedy would cover current discussions like Venture Brothers and other Adult Swim shows; HIMYM; Earl; Ugly Betty would probably fit.
I would agree with keeping Boxed Set and folding Lost and Veronica Mars into bucket threads.
What are you thinking about as far as font goes for bucket threads?
What are you thinking about as far as font goes for bucket threads?
Helvetica. Or maybe a nice Gill Sans.
t /typesetting dork
I don't have much to add to this except to throw my voice in with the folks who can't follow the bucket threads. I feel like I don't have a horse in this race because I don't post in the threads being discussed but I don't post in them because they don't work for me. I probably would post in things like a BSG thread or a Stargate thread.
So if I were to propose something, which route do you think would be the most useful experiment for sorting this stuff out?
1) I propose that we add F/X shows to the Premium thread but on some kind of probational basis. I think that doesn't give us a clean clear answer.
2) I propose that we add an FX bucket thread on a probational basis.
3) I propose that we add a basic cable gritty serial drama bucket thread on a probational basis.
4) I propose a full overhaul of how we add TV threads. The elements would include lowering the bar for addition (not going through a full Lightbulb vote? Bullshit consense? Straw vote of 10 to 15?) but tie that into clear standards for traffic rates in the new thread. Going forward I think I'd want to tie this to a maximum number of threads added - either within a year or in total. I'd peg the traffic rate to something like...equal or better than the traffic in the lowest established thread, or possibly the mean traffic rate on the single show threads? Something that would provide a useful number.
I think 2 or 3 would be the best experimental solutions, but I'd be trying them with an eye towards 4.
But, I'd rather hear from people first. 2 or 3 could also be sort of a dry run for bon's drama thread.
Thread proliferation splinters the community - it's the main reason I tend to support "bucket" type threads like Boxed Set and Minearverse and oppose single-show threads (even for shows I watch).
I don't understand how having separate threads for television shows splinters the community any more than having bucket threads that many of us have to avoid since we can't keep up with every show in them. I already feel splintered. At least with separate threads I could feel part of some of the television-viewers. Right now I almost never talk TV on Buffistas for this reason. I feel very much a part of the community at large because of my posting in Bitches and Natter, but nsm with TV.
I get that I'm not in the majority, here, and I'm not trying to start trouble. Just trying to articulate a different point of view.
I'll note that I'd be pitching a bucket thread, but going forward if we went to a Easy Start / Quick Prune approach to threads, people could pitch single show threads if they wanted. It's just that they'd have to generate enough traffic on their own to survive, whereas the bucket threads would (probably) be able to hit their thesholds easily.
