sort of feel that if I'm watching on Tivo delay, that's my problem, and I have to deal with watching late. If I have two shows on at the same time (Wednesday night, I'm looking at you!), then it's not my fault that I'm watching one of them late and could be spoiled by a W&P or Wednesday thread.

But as Kristin pointed out, the people who are always 3 hours behind and don't want to be spoiled are screwed, because us west coast people are always trying to catch up.

Which is why, for me, single show threads are a better solution. I do think they have a negative effect on the community; I just don't think for some people that it matters that much. Or it matters less than having the exact thread they are hoping to have.

I am with amych. I think I proposed the consolidation in a roundup of cleaning as a result of a host rocket crashing.

In general, it seems naive to chase some sort of holy grail of a show that we talk about with the same intensity as we talked Buffy. Too many shows and not everyone watches the same show. Instead, I think we need to figure out what we are willing to tolerate. Does X show generate enough and the right type of intense discussion to justify a new thread? And what does that mean for the community at large?

I mean, I'm looking forward to Gossip Girl because Josh Schwartz can do at least ONE season of soapy goodness. But do I personally need a thread to discuss it in? Probably not. And if we moved all soap discussion out of minearverse and into its own thread, would I follow it? I highly doubt it. But that is strictly a my idiosyncratic use of the board. I don't expect this place to be my one true place to discuss soapy goodness.

But why not? That's what I don't know. If we're talking about who we are, how do we know we're not a single show thread board? There's some shared knowledge that I haven't got a taste of, and I want to know.

I just have trouble discussing single show threads without talking about specific single show threads. What shows exactly are we considering? I don't see a bucket thread - or lack of one - having a great deal of bearing on the single show thread issue, unless we had enough single show threads that there just wasn't a bucket left. But I don't really see that happening.

Okay, here's a thought.

We did a bucket experiment. Can we do say, a month long folder of single show threads for a bunch of shows? Try that way on for size the way it turned out we did with the buckets? Maybe a few of them will catch on. Maybe they all will. Maybe they'll all whither and die. I'd be interested in spending, say, September finding out.

In that folder would mods have to make the shows? Or would individuals make threads at will?

Given how the experimentals have been treated thus far, I would not want to try a new set of experiments to see if that might work too. Then we have another set of users who would argue for X threads in addition to the current set.

What I mean is that I think Cindy proposed to the experimental threads as a chance to help the community see how we watch and discuss TV. What happened is that people who enjoyed them understandably want a replication of what they were. If we have a new experiment, we suddenly have a second constituency advocating for their specific threads.

Speaking just for me -

Dunno, I guess. I feel like at will might be a little much, but maybe we could pick six or ten or a dozen and go with those?

I just kind of feel like a single show thread or two isn't going to get us any closer to an answer. And actually trying things out might help us get to the bottom of the larger discussions we want to have without it being so much about the arguing or quite so acrimonious, or something.

Data! We need more data!

Randomly, Gloomcookie mentioned a while ago that perhaps what we need to do is say, there's a threshold to how many posts a specific show can generate in a topic after which it automatically is spun off into its own thread. She never detailed her ideas, but I thought I'd remind us of it because it's another possible solution.

:: curls up in a dark corner to cry ::

Polls! Data!

Some buckets, some individual show threads, some discussion of tv in general threads. A bit of this and a bit of that. I guess I don't need the bright lines so much.

What I mean is that I think Cindy proposed to the experimental threads as a chance to help the community see how we watch and discuss TV. What happened is that people who enjoyed them understandably want a replication of what they were. If we have a new experiment, we suddenly have a second constituency advocating for their specific threads.

Is that the worst thing? At least then we'll be hearing from more people, and we'll be actually finding out, rather than assuming, what does or doesn't work for us. Given the strength of feeling on these issues, I'd rather have more understanding than less. And if people do end up advocating for different thing, maybe it'll also help ease the people who are concerned that anything that gets proposed or advocated is a gimme.

Data! We need more data!

That's why I think polls might be quicker, easier and less stressful than throwing out more threads.

If we did some polls, I think I'd be most curious to find out how people use B.org (is it their main online community, are they mostly in Natter or Bitches or a show thead or fanfiction, do they seek out other forums for music, movies, tv shows, etc.), and then find out viewing habits (buckets or single threads or a mix, delayed viewing or within 24 hours of broadcast or something else, whitefont or not, only cop shows or only blackula hunter shows, etc.)

Because I am having a hard time getting a sense of broad trends of preference. Are the minority opinions small but vocal? Is the difference between the majority and the minority smallish? What accomodates the most people? What works best for the community?

What poll questions do you think would be useful for your understanding of these issues?