Mal: You are very much lacking in imagination. Zoe: I imagine that's so, sir.

'Out Of Gas'


Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


Shell - Jan 03, 2003 8:48:19 pm PST #2617 of 10001

I thought it was all a joke.

edit: Because who would truly want one of those, anyway. Sorry.


DavidS - Jan 03, 2003 8:57:50 pm PST #2618 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I want Buffistas to be an asshole-free zone. I need one of those BADLY.

Me too.

So...the Music Thread is humming along and I love it already.

Natter isn't so much a cocktail party anymore as a cocktail party inside the Astrodome. Sometimes I can see the people I want to talk to there, but mostly they're pinned against the opposite wall with a crush of people between us and there is the shrug of acknowlegement that we're never going to make it to the corner near the good dip and get to talk about the thing we want to talk about. (Not to say the people I do see in Natter are not who I want to see. I do. And I talk with them. But there are people I don't get to chat with in Natter. That's my point.)

Which saddens Steph and Kat and Burrell, but...we went and doubled in size within a month. And to my mind - it's a little disingenuous. Because Bitches and Smallville and Spoilers and Sang Sacre were already separate little mini-communties within Buffistas. If I wanted to find Ellen I looked in Smallville. (And when Fay stopped posting in Bitches for a long time and I missed her, she was over there playing in the HoYay.) I see Gud more often in Sang Sacre than any place else. I only see Candy and Le Nubian in Spoilers. Connie Neil doesn't venture out of Bitches very often, and that's usually where I'll see Elena. These are not new developments.

There was a time, not that long ago, when I read every post in every thread. That's not even remotely possible now. Sure, I can hop into the last fifty posts of Natter and I do. But the focus of the music thread doesn't just give me a place to talk about that subject - it gives me a place where I can actually talk to people I want to talk to. People that didn't spend that much time in Natter.

I don't want to change Natter and I won't stop going there. But it was actually preventing me from seeing/talking to people rather than facilitating it. I know that's a very saddening notion to some people - but that was my experience. Maybe other people didn't have that experience - but plenty of people have noted that they can't keep up with Natter. And the most Natterful cry, "You can't keep up with Natter! Just jump in!" and yet...a lot of people don't. And there are reasons for that.

These are just growing pains. There are all kinds of sociological studies about group dynamics and what happens when certain numbers of people are in parties. After you get to a certain point, inevitably people form into smaller groups. Inevitably. We can limit the number of groups we are willing to form. But unless we drastically revise our self-conception and close the gate to newcomers, this was bound to happen.


Beverly - Jan 03, 2003 9:04:17 pm PST #2619 of 10001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.

David, dear. Thank you so much for that. Exactly what I've been feeling, had begun constructing an unhurtful as possible post about at least twice and gave up in defeat.

I'll probably lurk in Music, since I need to learn more than I have any knowledge to share. But if I have a question or I do have something to say, I'll feel like it's more within the context of the discussion than a random remark tattered by the wind of the merry-go-round.


P.M. Marc - Jan 03, 2003 9:06:36 pm PST #2620 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

Which saddens Steph and Kat and Burrell, but...we went and doubled in size within a month.

Except that hasn't really done anything to Natter. Natter hasn't grown much in terms of people, it's just much faster than WX was. Same Natterinos, more posts per person.


DavidS - Jan 03, 2003 9:11:24 pm PST #2621 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

had begun constructing an unhurtful as possible post

This is on my mind as I wrote that post. There's potential hurt in what I'm talking about and I'm really trying to deal with this issue without brusing anything. Because nobody needs bruising!


DavidS - Jan 03, 2003 9:13:12 pm PST #2622 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

Except that hasn't really done anything to Natter. Natter hasn't grown much in terms of people, it's just much faster than WX was. Same Natterinos, more posts per person.

In any event, the volume itself is causing issues. The Astrodome may not be filled with more people, but it's filled with more posts.


Rebecca Lizard - Jan 03, 2003 9:17:46 pm PST #2623 of 10001
You sip / say it's your crazy / straw say it's you're crazy / as you bicycle your soul / with beauty in your basket

I'd love to be a jump-into-Natter girl, but I've only done it when everything was so slow I was tearing my hair out. I'm the kinda girl that's got to read every goddamn post in the thread (and I'm subbed to most threads, I'm just not always able to write in them. Haven't posted in Firefly much recently, despite reading every penny; read SS but usually can't make myself write anything interesting in it), or I feel icky. meara knows, I read every post in the Dykes forum before I would post.


Mike_P - Jan 03, 2003 9:43:19 pm PST #2624 of 10001
My food is problematic...

Now more lovely info, justkim saw it too and provided a little semi-transcript:

First, they referred to Joss as “the Nutty Producer.” (Offensive because Fox is airing The Nutty Professor right now instead of Firefly.)

It said “He’s no stranger to resurrecting the dead. He convinced UPN to resurrect BtVS after The WB axed it from their schedule.” (Not quite right.)

“Joss posted on his website” that Fox has indicated it won’t stand in his way of shopping the show around. Blah blah quotecakes. Will keep bird in air.

"For more news go to www.buffistas.org "

Web address displayed, very easy to see and read. Up for 5-10 seconds.


DavidS - Jan 03, 2003 9:55:11 pm PST #2625 of 10001
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

"For more news go to www.buffistas.org "

I think the hair on my arms would be standing on end if I had channel flipped and caught that.


msbelle - Jan 03, 2003 9:56:44 pm PST #2626 of 10001
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb

I've just turned to my TVGuide station to see if I can catch it. NOT GOOD! I would think that ME wouldn't want this kind of mis-information out there, any way to get them on TV Guide's ass?