If a community falls in a forest has a thread with no posts, does itmake a sound exist?

Or something.

I think that we may need to take DVR/Tivo issues out of consideration.

Like ND says, why? What does that solve that can't be solved by a thread per show?

If "bucket" threads do become a reality, we may need to revisit the definition of NAFDA.

As for compromise, I don't think a bucket thread is a compromise that serves people who'd work better with single show threads--it doesn't help them any more (and in fact, may help them less) that leaving the TV talk in Natter.

Before this whole discussion, I was really pro bucket threads, perhaps because I think that it seems to work so well for reality shows. The more I think about it, and read what everyone is saying, I'm not convinced that it makes sense for anything else (see below).

I didn't want to bring up The Office yet again. But that's the example I keep coming back to. I saw virtually no discussion of the show until the experimental comedy thread was set up. At least for me, it was like the Buffy experience all over again -- watching the show in the evening, then coming in to discuss (even deconstruct) the next morning.

I don't watch The Office, but, after seeing the discussions in the comedy thread (where it really seemed to take over the thread), I'd say it could certainly support its own thread. I'd rather see that and leave the other comedy shows in Natter than have them buried in a generic "comedy" thread. This may be true for other genres as well.

There are a lot of people (myself included), who have other obligations or don't have time to watch in real time. When that happens to me, I avoid the thread until I watch. Which, frankly, often encourages me to watch sooner than later.

I agree with that Vortex, but bucket threads compound the problem for time shifters. In a thread with a small number of shows if I'm behind on one then I do exactly that, avoid the thread until I'm caught up. However, the more shows in the bucket, the less likely that I'll ever be caught up to enough to use the thread. With a single show thread it's easy to wait until I'm caught up.

I agree with both of these comments, especially as relates to whitefont decisions. I'm happy when people like Jesse whitefont HSQ in reality, but I don't think she should have to just because I have a tendency to blunder in without remembering that I might be spoiled inadvertently.

More and more, I'd like to see most TV in Natter, with a limited number of single thread shows that get their own thread. Perhaps we could do one-month "experimentals" at the beginning of each network/cable season to see what might warrant its own thread (sort of how we open and close the Lightbulbs thread).

Like ND says, why? What does that solve that can't be solved by a thread per show?

I thought that we were trying to avoid that? Or is that still part of the issues?

I thought that we were trying to avoid that?

What are the reasons against it?

Let me be honest--I'm not going read single show threads here, and I'm not going to read a bucket thread as large as seems to be proposed, and I can't see any helpful way to make smaller buckets. So I'm not arguing from any position or another. I just want to know what's underlying some of the positions, since I think we risk sabotaging ourselves by not being clear.

I thought that the reasons against single show threads were:
1. We're not a general tv forum and
2. some sort of size issue with the way the website works.

If we have a bucket thread are we any less a general TV forum? Why is that making the difference?

As for the technical issues, it will be slower with separate threads, but it may not be the bottleneck in your speed experience on the site. It does lock us more tightly in to a dedicated server too, but, that's the status quo.

I don't know why it makes a difference except that unlike WX or TWOP making a thread here is more difficult. I think because we want more structure and less fluidity in what is discussed. It's not just random topics that anyone can create. So bucket thread(s) make more sense because we can make fewer of them and vote on them less than if we were going to individual show threads. And from then we can (as we have with Heroes or SPN) vote to create separate show threads when it makes sense to do so.

I don't see what that has to do with being or not being a TV forum, though. They are just ways of discussing TV.

Who knows what will come out of this discussion--a TV folder with 1 thread per show, any show anyone wants, or 1 bucket thread for them all, or no change at all. That's what the discussion is about.

Oh--as for board resources, the more threads there are, the slower "read new" will be, especially if you're subscribed to a lot of them. But, again, I don't know if you'd notice that over your bandwidth.