That implies more to me than just "how do we get a new thread created?".

Definitely. I don't want to start a new thread if the "community" as a whole will then grumble about it, even if I can get a vote pushed through.

I'm just curious about what the people of the buffista community feel would make a thread that added to the completeness of what we have. Specifically: if you, as a person, aren't interested in a thread, then how many of your fellow buffistas do you think SHOULD be interested in the thread for you to consider it worth it's own separate world, that might become a separate 'sub-community', eventually?

I mean, I, personally, don't watch The O.C. (yet), but I would be perfectly happy for there to be an O.C. thread, as I think at least 15 or 20 regular buffistas would probably post in there, and enjoy the discussion. I don't think a Law and Order thread, however, would make much sense, because I don't think there're that many buffistas that follow new developments (though i may be wrong, and a bureaucracy discussion about such a thread might prove me wrong, I dunno)

Also, how do you as people decide whether a new thread would be a good thing? What do you weigh against the idea of "people would enjoy posting in this thread"? Is it the fear of many new members, the fear of technical problems with the server, the annoyance of more threads on your homepage, or what?

(P.S. Is there somewhere I can donate to the b.org server fund? I'd love to, it seems entirely worth it.)

if you, as a person, aren't interested in a thread, then how many of your fellow buffistas do you think SHOULD be interested in the thread for you to consider it worth it's own separate world, that might become a separate 'sub-community', eventually?

I don't have much of an opinion on this specific topic, mostly because I don't need to. If the vote says we're going to have an all Xhosa all the time thread -- then we will. If the noise:signal ratio overwhelms me and saps my enjoyment of the board, then I leave. I can't quantify, beyond quorum or whatever (and even that was pretty arbitrary) how many Buffistas it takes to matter.

how do you as people decide whether a new thread would be a good thing?

A million different ways, I bet.

Is there somewhere I can donate to the b.org server fund?

Paypal donations@buffistas.org.

Hmmm... I think most of the new threads created since we've been here have fallen into two categories:

1) Obvious fit with our original mission of Jossy goodness. E.g. "Jossverse in other media" (created when Fray was published), or "Minearverse" (Tim being Joss' right hand man on two of his shows).

2) Topics overwhelming other threads. E.g. the pretty elves.

There's also been the movies and music threads, but IIRC those met with a bit more resistance.

I don't want to start a new thread if the "community" as a whole will then grumble about it, even if I can get a vote pushed through.

Ah, but that would become abundantly clear in the discussion process.

I don't want to start a new thread if the "community" as a whole will then grumble about it, even if I can get a vote pushed through.

Ah, but that would become abundantly clear in the discussion process.

As Jesse notes, it's tough to get a new thread going today. There are a fair number of anti-proliferationistas who would vote against it, so it's unlikely a thread would pass unless there were enough people to support it. People do vote for threads that they don't plan to participate in for a variety of reasons (thread just seems right, or it's a question of fairness). But mostly there has to be strong support and desire for a thread to get one floating nowadays.

Plus also the Chief Engineer is standing over there saying the board canna hold if we push it.

the Chief Engineer is standing over there saying the board canna hold if we push it.

Hmmph. The board will run. But if you have a large insurance policy and we're a beneficiary, watch your back. Because the board is currently expensive to run. And I can't promise when it'll be cheaper, but I can point out what usage will lock us deeper into the cost.

Hmmph. The board will run. But if you have a large insurance policy and we're a beneficiary, watch your back. Because the board is currently expensive to run. And I can't promise when it'll be cheaper, but I can point out what usage will lock us deeper into the cost.

I'd be tempted to argue that since there are no new BtVS & A:ts episodes, we'd probably break even, but I can not. The BEAST that is the pace of Minearverse probably eclipses our Angel and Buffy threads combined, during sweeps, and back when more of us loved both series and posted about them with abandon.

expensive to run.

Umm. I don't claim to know much about hardcore internet service providing, but I gotta wonder... how much, for 30 GB a month? (feel free to email if this is privileged info, or just ignore me - Google can probably tell me, too, approximately.) And how much for 60?

Seeing as this board is easily more entertaining than cable, I'd be glad to pay $20-$30 a month towards it. Especially once I start getting my own paycheck, sometime well after graduation next year. (shrug). The people here make it worth it, even if I never meet them in person.

gotta wonder... how much, for 30 GB a month?

That's not where the money lies. As currently implemented, the code hits a MySQL bug which means we eat CPU cycles like Buffista F2Fers on a candy necklace.

It means we need a dedicated server, although the rest of our more quantifiable stats are certainly within shared server specs.

Tommyrot's well on the way to making changes we hope will alleviate this, and once we've confirmed that, we can reassess our capacity.

I think it's great that you want to support the site, naturally. But I don't think we should rely on our users being exceptionally flush. We need to do due diligence, both in terms of design and code, and in terms of usage.

The BEAST that is the pace of Minearverse probably eclipses our Angel and Buffy threads combined

I dunno. It seemed to have quieted down in there because Tim hadn't shown up for a while. Of course, then he did.

Hey, maybe the next thread should be Minearverse 3: Will Someone Please Get This Man a Job?