I understand that, but it's a shame that it didn't come up (please, this is not a jab) during the discussion of the proposal.

Gotcha. I didn't see the times that the new season start before I voted.

are there actually expected to be any new developments that will change the opinions that have evolved thus far?

Yes, many seasons will have been over for a week or two.

I don't think there's anything wrong with discussing results before June 1 with an eye to having a proposal ready to go shortly thereafter.

No one is disagreeing with that (as best as I can tell). The disagreement is with whether there should be a proposal put forth before June 1. I'm with Cindy & ita. The proposal that created the experimental threads was very clear that they would all close on June 1, and then we would come up with a proposal about what to do next.

I'm mostly reading ita and brenda and nodding.

I'm fine with waiting for June 1st. And for waiting to discuss things until then, at least formally.

I'm not sure the vote will reflect something that's been trialed.

Who said it had to? The experiment was to gather data. Not an explicit prototype.

In fact the proposal as written states that the threads are not meant to be prototypes. However, the reality thread has been a resounding success, and I think something similar should take its place.

Are we going to construe the experiment proposal as written from preventing any kind of discussion, proposal or creation of a reality thread for six months? I hope not.

Are we going to construe the experiment proposal as written from preventing any kind of discussion, proposal or creation of a reality thread for six months?

How can one read it that way?

eta:

Wait, is that in response to me? I meant that you can't not close the existing thread, because that's untouchable via moratorium. New threads are not only not prohibited, but their potential was the point.

A weird combo between the experiment proposal and the moratorium rule.

Mostly just me being paranoid.

Wait, is that in response to me? I meant that you can't not close the existing thread, because that's untouchable via moratorium. New threads are not only not prohibited, but their potential was the point.

Not directly. Something you said triggered the thought, but I was not reading you as having suggested that.

Are we going to construe the experiment proposal as written from preventing any kind of discussion, proposal or creation of a reality thread for six months? I hope not.

In my opinion Sean, no. The experiment wasn't meant to prevent those threads from ever being created, nor was it meant to sneak them in a backdoor and give them some foothold, where people could say, "But we've developed a subculture. You can't close it."

In other words, I wasn't pretending to experiment only to either establish these threads or prevent them from being established.

I was actually experimenting. If the experiment inspires someone to propose a thread on how to correctly lace shoes, then so be it.

nor was it meant to sneak them in a backdoor and give them some foothold, where people could say, "But we've developed a subculture. You can't close it."

I'm in agreement with this.

For myself I'd rather wait until June 1 because of discussion fatigue.

• First, I'm not ready to pass judgment on the threads after only 18 days--(e.g. I've been too busy at work to keep up and would just go whitefont all the time with how I've been able to keep up with dramas).
• Second, we JUST had a whole thing where we voted and everything and I'm not looking forward to rehashing merely a few weeks later. Not ready to fight yet.
• Third, I'm worried that this long lead time until June 1 will favor the preferences of people who have the stomach to hash this out for two weeks.

I don't want to police the discussion, just want to persuade people that making all these evaluations, proposals, voting, hurt feelings and all that is way too soon. We have a moratorium for partly the same reason. Consensus here often changes based on how people "feel" the discussion is going, and there are too many factors at play to make that truly represent the will of the people in this context.