And I may be in the minority, but Natter these days feels kind of empty without the TV talk.

I don't know about the minority, but you are not alone on that point.

I really only watch one show when the network tells me I should, and the rest are watched whenever I get around to it. If I watch something 5 days after it airs, I feel comfortable posting about it in Natter, because people might join in, and if not, there are other non-tv discussions also going on. (though this is lessening because of the expectation I at least feel to stick to the "right" thread) With the experimentals, I have to worry about being spoiled for other shows, and about breaking into other tv based discussions with people who have already discussed whatever I just watched and moved on.

t potential can of worms

Also, I don't like the experimentals because they seem very rigid and rule oriented to me. We are supposed to discuss this set of shows here, but that set of shows over there, and that third set over in the other thread, and all of them have different whitefont policies, and people who discuss shows outside of that system are gently told "no, go over there", even after they have said that over there doesn't work for them. It feels like a climate change for the board, and it's not one I'm really enthusiastic about.

t /can of worms.

and people who discuss shows outside of that system are gently told "no, go over there", even after they have said that over there doesn't work for them.

I don't mean to argue this point too much, but has that really been happening? I haven't picked up on it, if so.

Maybe t braces self people who are pointing out the other threads informationally need to be more careful about their wording, and people who don't want to go to those threads need to be more upfront about saying "oh, I know, I'd just prefer to talk about it here."

Alternatively, and this maybe gets back more towards what Cindy intended, do we want to consider t braces again further dividing things, so that the TV threads are more specifically focused on whatever the top few shows that came out of this are in each thread, and kick the rest back to Natter?

t brac-- screw it, ducks and runs It's pretty obvious we need more discussion on all of this.

I don't think that's opening a can of worms. I just think different people like different shit. t /Jesse

I never talked TV in Natter, hated that it was so spread out and hated the whitefont. Obviously there are people who don't mind the whitefont and prefer to discuss TV in Natter.

For me the experimental threads are a much better choice. But there's clearly a variety of views on the subject.

The only rule I've seen in the experimentals is "all yur TV talk belong to us"--for a given set of TV talk, that is. We can discuss the entire Mike Rowe ouvre in Non Fiction, bounce around to the haircut and fashion reality shows, then come back to some strange thing someone saw that no else knew about. The broader genre discussion invites mentions of obscure shows that only two or three people may have seen, and that kind of discussion probably wouldn't come up in Natter because of all the varying streams of conversation.

In Network Drama, it may not get the kind of indepth philosophical analysis I see people doing with Supernatural, but it's easier to discuss the whole broad spectrum of drama as shown on TV. That's hard to do in Natter as well, without getting diverted into work or dry cleaning discussions.

all of them have different whitefont policies

Lee, for what it's worth (I don't expect this to make you like the threads any better, just want you to have the information if you can use it)

NAFDA:
Network Drama thread
Comedy thread
Non-Fiction TV

WHITE FONT FOR 24 HOURS
Cable Drama thread

I don't think you opened a can of worms, either. Personally, I was never trying to establish these threads for their own sakes. I wanted to see what people talked about, what worked together, what didn't.

People redirecting TV talk out of Natter are absolutely wrong to be doing so. They need to be told when they do that. It seems to me that if all the people who have expressed missing TV talk in Natter today, would start talking about TV in Natter again, there would be plenty of TV talk left in Natter, but that could just be an impression.

Personally, I missed TV talk when I was in Natter, because I'm almost never at the computer when I'm watching TV.

Ah, there's nothing like editing for format and making it all uglier! My work here is done.

It seems to me that if all the people who have expressed missing TV talk in Natter today, would start talking about TV in Natter again, there would be plenty of TV talk left in Natter, but that could just be an impression.

Well, it used to work better when I brought up GA than it does now. I can't say why, but I still brought up GA anyway, and it failed to catch.

I missed TV talk when I was in Natter, because I'm almost never at the computer when I'm watching TV.

Neither am I--how was it a problem for you?

It didn't catch. It was also just hard to find it if I was looking for it. It always seemed to happen when I wasn't around. I also don't watch a lot of the stuff that had a sizable Natter audience.

I don't mean to argue this point too much, but has that really been happening? I haven't picked up on it, if so.

yes. I can think of several times when people have been pointed towards the experimental threads when they bring up TV shows, and I am pretty sure this happened with ita and GA once even after she had expressly said "those don't work for me".

(unless I am making that last part up, and if I am, it's the allergy meds' fault, but I am pretty sure I remember seeing that.)

Do you think a reminder in Press might help -- something about the proposal specifically stating TV talk was welcome in Natter during the experiment (as always)?