I like Natter just the way it is.

I do think we should have a separate Foamies thread pretty soon, unless people are okay with the nominations/voting administrativa going on here.

Speaking as one who often has to skip & skim, I'd like a separate Foamies thread.

eta correct spelling, dammit.

I wonder if we couldn't consolidate some of the non-Jossverse TV oriented threads, anyway. Granted, I don't participate in them, but they seem to be relatively slow-moving, so I wonder if there's a need for both Clex and PPO. Or could all the fanfiction workshopping go into one thread, and all the non-Jossverse TV talk go into one thread?

I wondered this during the music discussions, because there seem to be a few fan fiction threads, etc., but since I don't visit them, I didn't bring it up.

It's because it's natter. Maybe we need a "sustained, focused conversation" thread instead. But one per topic people want to have a sustained, focused conversation on? I can't see it working.

There's thread proliferation and rampant thread proliferation. If we were entertaining the notion of...

• An Alias thread
• An ER thread
• A Miracles thread
• A West Wing thread
• An insert Your-TV-Show-Here thread
• A Rock-N-Roll thread
• A Country Music Thread
• A Classical Music Thread
• A Thread for each new film

...well, to me, that's out of control proliferation and would ruin the board (for me). I don't know if I think it is harmful to have one thread dedicated to an entertainment medium (genre and/or oeuvre would be too much) in a community that sprang out of fandom.

Any show that's aired anywhere in the world would be fair game and not require white font.

Yikes. See, there's a thread I won't go into, although it'd seem I were target audience.

The no spoiler font section of the proposal was more of an expression of my personal preference, not a must-have stipulation.

I also think that the sheer volume in Natter these days makes it really difficult to have a sustained, focused conversation there about anything.

It's because it's natter.

Maybe my memory is fading (misty longing for the good old days and all that), but it seems like Natter used to be about 50% discussion of whatever happened to be on people's minds on a given day, and 50% chitchat. Lately, I think it's swung much more toward the chitchat end of the spectrum, and from a mememe perspective, I miss the discussions because I'm just more comfortable with and interested in that type of conversation.

Lately, I think it's swung much more toward the chitchat end of the spectrum,

How will more threads change that, though? Any transition's been smooth enough for me that I don't notice it, but natter's ebbed and flowed -- sometimes it's deep with body image issues or sport or politics, and sometimes it's a concerted effort to relieve Alibelle of her Vaughn delusions. An Alias thread or a TV thread or a movie thread or a sports thread or a film thread isn't going to change that, is it?

I don't know if the point is to change Natter, but to facilitate the other types of conversations.

I wondered this during the music discussions, because there seem to be a few fan fiction threads, etc., but since I don't visit them, I didn't bring it up.

FFRWE = Discussion only, no workshopping.

Bitchy Fic = active workshopping thread, Buffycentric.

PPO = not-so-much-active workshopping thread that once was hopping but has declined in recent months as the show has lost some fandom types. Also, our most active Smallville writers have gone dim.

I'd like to keep Bitchy Fic separate, but would be fine seeing PPO go polyfandom.

I'd like to keep Bitchy Fic separate, but would be fine seeing PPO go polyfandom.

Could that incorporate due South, too?

Please note, I'm not sure why I'm even concerned about having a lot of lightly-used threads, so if the people who participate like the status quo, and there's no real reason to change, don't bother.

Due South isn't workshopping, and is active enough. It's already pretty open season slashy.

Smallville has been more active lately. Back when Smallville was its own part of WX, we started Due South to keep Smallville talk on Smallville.

facilitate the other types of conversations.

But for this you need a lot of spread, don't you? For every topic people have felt "damn, I wish this hadn't been diluted by ita talking about krav"? Where do you stop? That's exactly my proliferation issue.

Someone (say, like me) who wants to talk with a number of people about a number of things, but will not be able to handle the increased volume with proliferation gets relegated to the natteriest of natter.

I don't see boundaries ... that's my thing.