For the record, since I suspect I'm one of the ones setting people off, I pretty much mean what Jen said. And I'm not anti-lurker - I lurked for a good year myself, and was an infrequent poster for a while after that. That's true of a lot of us. And I know the sort of weird place it puts you where you feel a connection, and you know these people in some way, and yet it's a very one-sided thing.

Certainly I hope things work for them as well, that they're getting something out of this whole crazy mess of a beautiful place. But we're having more than enough trouble trying to suss out what those of us who do make our presence known want and need. The suggestion that "wait, maybe there's a whole 'nother, even more incomprehensible group we need to consider" is what set me off.

ETA for fucking apostrophes.

I am lurking in this thread right now. I keep typing up things to say, and then someone else says it better. And then someone else makes an opposing point, and I agree with them too. I don't know what I think.

235 people posting, 1547 members? Wow.

So how about this for a poll, using tickyboxes check one:

The board is perfect as it is. Don't change a thing.

Splitting up the volume with multiple show threads dilutes the community.

Splitting up the volume with multiple show threads enhances the community.

*******

If we get a conclusive answer from that question we should know whether we need to make any changes or not.

And the changes could be very minor. The change could be a mental adjustment for some people individually: "When I'm voting on creating threads I need to balance the need for focused conversation against diluting the sense of community."

bon, do you think that kind of poll would have the negative results you're concerned about?

Would it it tell people anything they're interested in knowing, or is that just my idle curiosity?

Is there a better way to phrase the poll or are there other elements I'm not addressing?

bon, do you think that kind of poll would have the negative results you're concerned about?

No and yes. I think you've addressed some of my concerns. I am as curious as others to see how it shakes out.

I make the following predictions, though: in a world where we are considering the injustice of disenfranchising people who don't vote there will be controversy over any result. There will be complaints that we are disenfranchising the minority. And the losers in this will want to run this poll again within the next 24 months.

in a world where we are considering the injustice of disenfranchising people who don't vote

Is anyone actually doing this, though?

Is anyone actually doing this, though?

This is a little ambiguous. Are we going to do anything about people who don't vote? No. Has there been a lot of agita as if we were going to do something to people who don't vote? Yes.

The poll doesn't change anything - it just clarifies how people see the board.

Even if a majority of people want one thing, it would take a separate series of actual votes to make anything happen.

And we're not obliged to take any actions.

I just want to separate information from the noise of the discussion to get a sense of how people perceive these issues.

235 people posting, 1547 members?

Very interesting number. I suspect my facetious reference to being a summer time replacement soap opera for some folks may have more truth than I thought.

I'm not discussing the disenfranchisement of people who don't vote. I've been discussing the marginalization of people who may have posted only once or twice this year and don't feel they have enough street cred to make themselves heard.

Edit: If they don't speak up, no, we don't know what they want. But I believe the border between lurker and intermittent poster in a side thread--such as, theoretically, someone who pops up with a bit of technical know how to a question over in the Tech thread--is a narrow one. And being told no one of alleged importance gives a damn what they have to say is not conducive to them speaking up.

Right. In an attempt to move this discussion forward, and do this poll thing we keep talking about, I generated a poll using David's questions above.

Unless anyone speaks up naysaying, I'm going to go mention this in Press. I can also pop into the other threads and mention it there, unless someone else wants to pick up the ball and run with it.

I kind of wanted to see if people had any comments or issues with the poll before we ran it. I mean, I don't want to run it twice if haven't phrased it well.