I'd like to try to get down to some of the nitty-gritty and pull out whatever data we did manage to build, along side the broader questions. Initial thoughts:

Non-fic seemed to work very well. Discussion was enhanced, and no white-font seemed to work out. That's what I'm mostly hearing anyway - dissenters? Please speak up.

Network Drama shows that seemed to come up (and provoke sustained discussion most: Bones, House, GA, CSI to a lesser extent. GA seemed to manage dual-thread discussion pretty well, from my perspective. What else? Talk about things I don't watch didn't stick with me so much, so I know I'm missing some. Are there examples of specific ND shows that didn't work so well?

not to mention you could argue it in the face of any show we talk about. I don't see why premium shows should get special treatment.

I think that basic (or basic extended, depending on your location) is the norm, whereas most people don't have pay channels, and Netflix. I am quite possibly wrong about this. I have this perception that everyone is as cheap as I am :)

That's a stronger argument, to be sure. (Which isn't to say that the "someday" argument hasn't been made about shows not part of Premium. ) But it's tough to know where to go with that - it seems to either require tons of whitefont or shunt discussion off into a corner.

I feel like I'm being a bitch here - I'm a spoilerphobe from way back, and I still am with some things. But I do feel like we can't have the same level of insulation on everything that's out there, and my instinct is leaning more and more toward the free-for-all end.

(FTR, my own "someday" shows include SPN, the Wire, the Shield, Life on Mars, and a handful of others.)

Because of this, the feel of natter has shifted for me.

I agree with this. I was fine discussing TV in the TV threads while the experiment lasted, but I wasn't a fan of how they affected Natter.

I've said before that even sans thread-nannying, I don't think it's practical to expect multiple threads to support real discussions of the same shows. It doesn't matter how nice we all are to each other about it -- intentionally or not, creating topical threads effectively takes those topics out of Natter.

Since people have stated things they find less than optimal for their personal use, let me just mention whitefont for ahemmed shows I'm unlikely to ever see unless and until they're aired. It puts me off the same amount as reams of whitefont in Natter after the OC or GA or any of the reality shows I don't follow or care about.

This experience can't be tailored for every user's ideal. I think the experimental threads worked amazingly well, if for no other reason than I didn't have to wade through whitefont or posts about SYTYCD or TAR or WTFE. But that's just me, you understand. Although I do believe the experimental threads worked well enough to make them permanent, possibly with a little adjusting before they go live, as it were.

I agree wholeheartedly on an early deadline for whitefont, no matter the show, and honestly I'd be happier the earlier that deadline is. I don't have a problem not clicking on the whitefont, but pages of it just make me grit my teeth. I have less of a problem skimming and skipping visible posts about shows I haven't seen, to get to posts about shows I have seen and want to discuss. But again, that's my user experience. As always, YUXMV.

I'm not expecting my opnion to sway anybody or to carry any weight. I just thought it was worth putting it out there.

I didn't use the experimental threads much because my time was limited during their duration and I didn't sub to them. And yet, I have opinions!

Whitefont in tv threads bugs me, while whitefont in Natter amuses me. For me the tv threads are fun for watch 'n post and the discussion immediately following a show. Whitefont messes with that function. It is fine with me for people to have a bucket thread for their shows but I will likely make random whitefont comments in Natter for shows not in Boxed Set or individual show threads.

We all have our own way we use the board and generally I like to limit the threads to a number that I can use Read New. Only on the weekends to I get an opportunity to check out the other threads.

And with that I will leave the discussion of the potential future of new bucket threads to those that found them useful.

I also missed the TV threads but I might as well chime in. I don't mind whitefont in Natter but I dislike being 200 posts behind in one day because something exciting happened in a TV show that I don't follow. I think people should be free to talk about any topic in Natter but if some of the TV discussion happened someplace else it would make it easier for me to stay caught up on the board.

One effect I perceived in Natter re: discussing TV was my personal reluctance to babble delightedly about Bones when there was a serious discussion going on. It felt gauche in the extreme to interrupt, say, someone worried about their children's health with "OMG, did you see DB in that tight wife-beater!" It's the kind of thing that makes people in real life give you one of Those Looks. But I can babble all I like about it in the TV thread.

Why not a Bones thread as opposed to a bucket: The medical shows are related, somewhat, and sometimes something you saw in House informs something you see on Bones. True, you could whitefont, but it feels more organic to have the entire range of Network Drama, for example, available for the discussion.

I can work with 24-hour whitefont, and I don't think any topics should be shooed out of Natter.

As someone who's sort of on the sidelines of the board culture, I wanted to add something (but feel free to disregard):

It's really hard for someone like me, who comes in and out, to follow a bunch of different whitefont rules for different threads -- I know the rules are at the top of each thread page, but I still find it confusing. Perhaps that's my own fault, and perhaps if someone really wants to become part of the board it's up to them to sink or swim. But it just seems like different rules for different TV threads is problematic.

We all have our own way we use the board and generally I like to limit the threads to a number that I can use Read New.

Heh. Truer words, because I didn't even know what the Read New function was for until we were a year into our setup here at the Phoenix. I still never use the Read New function. it would drive me crazy!