And I do think, and this also comes from over a decade online, that threadspread thins community. Right now, there are plenty of people who crossover into all the threads (I'm in everything but Farscape and the Canada thread, for example) and provide connections. The more threads, the more detached we get.

(1) I *totally* agree with this.

(2) How many of the registered users are *active* users?

So... how long did it take us to double our numbers from when we left WX?

I'd be interested to know how many new people have actually posted here. Do we have a way to tell that, ita? Not for anything but curiosity - I lurked for ages back on TT before joining in so it doesn't really mean much. But six months from now we might have a clearer picture of whether we really have a ton new regular members or if a lot of the post-joss sign-ups have drifted away.

FWIW, I could not disagree more that most other posting boards are "communities" in the way that this place is. IME, limited as it may be, this place is unique and special. I don't think a few extra threads here and there will threaten this, but I'm glad we discuss these things to death before adding new ones because I do think it's a danger if it gets too much. Plei's comment about connections is right on.

But six months from now we might have a clearer picture of whether we really have a ton new regular members or if a lot of the post-joss sign-ups have drifted away.

And if, sorry to say, Firefly isn't picked up by another network. Because it seems like most of the new members are here b/c of Firefly.

Not specifically Firefly. We could have gone on posting peacefully about Firefly forever if Joss' post hadn't been linked to by every board, magazine, and now possibly tv channel in the western world. IJS

Not specifically Firefly. We could have gone on posting peacefully about Firefly forever if Joss' post hadn't been linked to by every board, magazine, and now possibly tv channel in the western world. IJS

Well, it's his official web site, after all. (Doesn't anybody fact check anymore?)

Not specifically Firefly. We could have gone on posting peacefully about Firefly forever

If it doesn't get picked up by a network, there won't be much left to talk about, except the same handful of episodes, over and over and over.

If it doesn't get picked up by a network, there won't be much left to talk about, except the same handful of episodes, over and over and over.

That's never stopped us before.

I forgot earlier, but I wanted to say something about dropping in on Natter. It's ok, really. I'd say that at any given time there are two or three or twelve conversations going on anyway, so we're all talking around each other to a certain extent anyway. And if you happen to jump in with a tale of your most excellent fabulous day right when someone else has been laid-off? Well, it happens. I've certainly done it before, especially if I'm catching up in one window and jumping ahead to post in another. The worst that'll happen is you shut up for a minute and mention it again later. It's pretty easy to spot a cross-post in situations like that, and no one's going to be upset.

Also - the meara is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Don't ever be shy about throwing one out there. (So is actual meara, of course, but be more careful with the throwing.) And if you want to respond to something from 500 messages ago, why the hell not? If it was discussed to death already - well, we're no strangers to that around here, and may well pick up the ball again. Or, you know, not. Sometimes a topic will grab hold, other times it won't.

But I hate that people are feeling that they might be crashing the party in Natter just because they haven't been able to keep up. I try to keep up, and generally stay pretty on top of things, but I'm way behind in most of the threads I usually follow right now, what with family in town and stuff. Also, keeping up with Natter in general is different than keeping up with a particular conversation you're interested in. A couple of people mentioned asking a question and 300 posts getting in between it and the answer - I don't think that's really a good description of the flow of Natter.

Anyway, my two cents.

If it doesn't get picked up by a network, there won't be much left to talk about, except the same handful of episodes, over and over and over.

That's never stopped us before.

I mean, new people might not stick around, because *they* might not want to discuss the same handful of eps over and over.

Also - the meara is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Don't ever be shy about throwing one out there.

So wanting to say that you've got to get a good spin on that meara...