I hate white font, but I'm an unrepentant spoilerwhore. I just think that it seems that most of the people saying that they would want white font, are giving other reasons for why they wouldn't use or don't like the threads anyway, and probably will not be active in said threads regardless of the spoiler font rules (given that the options seem to be none, 1 day, 1 week.) That might not be true across the board, but it seems true of most of the people being vocal about it So, then we wind up with threads where the spoilerphobic aren't posting because the time's not long enough, and the people that don't want the white font aren't posting because they can't be arsed to post in white font. Nobody wins.

I do not think a white font time period would work at all in a Non-Fiction/Reality thread. That could just be me, though.

For me the reality thread seemed to be the one thread where non-white font didn't bother most people. I know that in my case I don't watch most of the stuff in there so I really didn't care if I read about America's Next Top Undertaker or whatever else those shows were. The stuff in there I was talking about didn't get much traffic, but it was a nice chance to have a little discussion about Mythbusters, Modern Marvels, Dirty Jobs, and Deadliest Catch.

it was a nice chance to have a little discussion about Mythbusters, Modern Marvels, Dirty Jobs, and Deadliest Catch

Word.

As I've said before, of the threads in the experiment, the reality thread seemed to be the most susccessful, as it both met a need, encouraged cross polination, and white font was not at all an issue.

I also think Jesse's point here: Jesse "Bureaucracy 3: Oh, so now you want to be part of the SOLUTION?" May 17, 2007 7:34:25 pm PDT

I don't see much substantive difference in what's happening now in these threads and what used to happen in Natter, whitefonted.

is salient to this discussion also.

I don't see much substantive difference in what's happening now in these threads and what used to happen in Natter, whitefonted.

I guess, it's different people discussing? Maybe? I'm not positive as I could never keep up with Natter in a million years.

I realize I am in the minority on this but that doesn't mean I'm not going to say anything about it.

I certainly don't mean to keep you from saying anything. Just addressing the points, I suppose.

There is a real assumption that the shows are watched within a day of airing, and that just isn't part of my reality.

Well, okay, but how does it work for you? Do you still want individual threads for each show? Because while I understand where you're coming from, as we moved from week to week we didn't get more than a handful of posts on each show before moving on the the next show, with some notable exceptions like The Office and Grey's. I don't think it would do much to foster discussion, and secondarily, the pimping of shows, to have a couple dozen threads to accomodate each show we're likely to watch; and also, it seems antithetical to the way we have operated since we've been here at the Phoenix board. We're not TWOP; we're a specific community of people who happen to like television. I don't think that community would be best served with individual threads, except for those with a notably large fanbase.

I don't see much substantive difference in what's happening now in these threads and what used to happen in Natter, whitefonted.

Oh, I would disagree with this. For the people who stopped talking about television in Natter, there were just as many who picked up talking about television in the experimentals. Not to mention the occasional robust, 50-post discussion on a particularly strong episode of a show. That is something that I don't think would fly in Natter, not in the same way. Besides that, we only had the experimentals for nigh on a month. I think we would only grow more comfortable with them, and use them more, with the defined perameters and knowledge that they will continue.

The way I'm reading the comments here, it seems that the solution that would work for the majority of people (except those opposed to thread proliferation) would be to have single-show threads for every show we want to discuss. And I don't think that's really feasible.

My only idea for keeping TV discussion in Natter is to use Natter as a watch-n-post, night-of-airing venue, with whitefont -- the way it always was for everything but Buffy and Angel, once upon a time. At least for those people who don't want to be spoiled for other shows. I agree, though, that having discussion of the same show in different places is logistically confusing.

If anything, I think one of the things this experiment clarified is the way people use the board. I have a hell of a hard time keeping up in Natter, and while skimming through white font about a show I don't watch should make that easier, I usually end up skipping to the end of the thread anyway, if I'm really pressed for time, so I never discussed TV much in there anyway.

I don't like the fact that some of us feel board culture has changed, although I agree with SA that the ship might have sailed in any case. None of which is really useful, I know, but I wanted to say it anyway. I'm a big compartmentalizer, so the threads worked well for me, even skipping discussion of shows I had missed. But I'm also, as noted above, an egregious skipper and skimmer, and miles of white font kills me after a while.

I hope that there is at least someone willing to propose a Non-Fiction/Reality thread while the rest of all this is sussed out. There are many reality shows on this summer(Hell's Kitchen! Starts on Monday!) and I would hate to not have this particular thread to discuss them, especially as I haven't really seen anyone object to it, unless I missed something.

I don't have a problem with doing that. If there is a problem, we can talk about it before it goes to Lightbulbs. Otherwise, this is a formal proposal.

Proposal: To create a new permanent television bucket thread like the Experimental Non-fiction Thread, name to be determined. This thread will be a NAFDA thread.