I found it a lot easier to ignore the 1st, 2nd, 3rd thing and just look at total numbers of people who picked each thread to get a better sense of overall preferences.

Same here. That confused me at first as well.

I'm fascinated and amused by the poll results. The comments in particular.

I agree -- really fascinating stuff in the comments at the end.

The one that pinged me in particular was the accusation that we are a "closed community." I think it was meant as a jab, but for me, that closeness is one of the reasons this is my primary internet home.

Also interesting that Boxed Set came in third on the most-essential threads question. I wouldn't have guessed that before.

I think it was meant as a jab, but for me, that closeness is one of the reasons this is my primary internet home.

Jabs can be true.

Wow. That's an amazing mass of data.

I think one of the things I'm getting from the comments is that not as many folks as I thought care that b.org isn't just another board. That's food for thought. I may be reading it wrong, weighting it wrong, always possible. But that's the feeling I get off the comments, in general.

In any case, you guys did an AWESOME job putting it together. You should all get, like, free bagels for a year, or something!

Here are the poll results:

I am so glad we did that.

Big majority of folks just fine with the way things are.

Some impulse to put a check on thread creation, but without changing the voting method drastically. Raising the quorum threshold seems to be the most popular (and frankly easiest and most sensible [I think] solution).

People come to talk TV. More TV threads would enhance the experience. But still a lot of people come for the socializing.

One of the comments struck me - noting that threads which create their own mini culture like Boxed Set or Minearverse or what Spoilers used are more divisive/diluting than single show threads.

I think that is sort of true, but I don't see that as a negative. That makes me turn my head around a little since I really like the Box Set culture (even though I don't participate there) and really liked the little Spoilers subgroup that used to be (that's where I got all my hang time with Le Nubian!).

Ultimately, the most diluting thing that ever happend on B.org was Bitches becoming it's own place. Except that didn't dilute the experience - it just created a different subset of interaction.

Here's a quick and dirty, probably flawed and typo-ridden table that assigns a weighted total to each thread. Simply, Number 1 votes times 3, Number 2 votes times 2, Number 3 votes times 1.

ThreadNo. 1No. 2No. 3Total VotesWeighted Votes Natter 57 34 15 106 254 Bitches 48 31 13 92 219 Boxed Set 20 17 17 54 111 Minearverse 10 22 11 43 85 Beep Me 11 11 17 39 72 Movies 6 14 11 31 57 Supernatural 7 9 9 25 48 Heroes 4 5 7 16 29 Literary 2 6 10 18 28 Firefly 2 7 4 13 24 Music 5 2 5 12 24 Tech 3 2 8 13 21 Non-Fiction TV 3 2 7 12 20 F2F 1 4 8 13 19 Great Write Way 2 3 7 12 19 Buffy and Angel 1 4 4 9 15 FanFiction 1 3 4 8 13 Other Media 1 2 5 8 12 Press 2 1 3 6 11 Un-American 2 1 3 6 11 Book Club 1 2 1 4 8 Bureaucracy 0 3 1 4 7 Spoilers 0 1 5 6 7 Sang Sacre 1 1 0 2 5 Fic 0 2 0 2 4 Lost 1 0 1 2 4 Premium Cable 0 0 3 3 3 Spoilage Lite 0 1 1 2 3 Cable Drama 0 0 2 2 2

Edited to sort by weighted total, and possibly to introduce all sorts of additional typos.

Keep in mind that not even a quarter of respondents made any comment at all in that final box.

Someone in one of the comments asked why some people are attracted to Natter and others to Bitches, or some version of that, I think. My extremely simplistic answer, especially since Bitches no longer fics and has tamed from bondage tape to daycare (NOT a bad thing, just an evolution of its inhabitants) and is no longer the prime porny thread is that Natter is more thinky, Bitches is more feely.

I don't have time to do both, daily--I haven't had time to do either, this past week--and as I feel the need to keep up with folks in whichever thread, I feel compelled to choose. Sometimes it's Natter, sometimes it's Bitches.

Jabs can be true.

Yes, that's what I meant. We are a somewhat closed community, but I don't consider that a bad thing, even if the commenter meant it that way.

To use a real-world parallel, when I'm out having lunch with friends, the table we're sitting at is a closed community. We're out in public and anyone sitting nearby can listen in if they want, but we're still only talking to each other. Random passersby (or dedicated eavesdroppers) can try inserting themselves into the conversation, but we're under no obligation to offer them a chair. I like that about meatspace, and I like it here.