It seems to me clear that less threads leads to less posts. If I want to say something about Farscape AND bitch about my boss, I will post the Farscape observation there and the bitching in Natter. If there IS no Farscape thread, I'll mention my observation on Natter and add a paragraph of bitching (and, hell, probably throw a couple more subjects in there for good measure) --voila, one post instead of two, or three for that matter. I think having threads for high traffic subjects is needed or it will be too overwhelming, but folding much smaller threads into each other sounds very workable.

This is an xpost, and then, I'd ask that we move all discussion on how to improve board health to BBaBB, dicussion on consolidation and deletia in this thread, and banning ita in Bureau. All this cross discussion? Likely unneccessary server waste.

So here's my last xpost.

Why not move ALL closed threads off this board? Leave them up for ONE WEEK, no more than that. Then we put the in "The Attic."

We could have them hosted by Fangeek, at a pretty minimal price (I know da owners, I'll haggle). That should lighten the "click through" load on the server, substantially. The threads would be available for read only, just not on this board.

They don't have to be here.

What about -- and I know it's something people said they wouldn't like, but there don't seem to be any easy solutions -- rolling LOTR into Movies?

With the DVDs now coming out for TTT, the extended ones down the line, and then the third flick in December, I'm not sure that would be very helpful right now. Also, it might be counterproductive - are there folks who hang out in LOTR but not in Movies or vv? (I used to be one, though lately I've only been checking out the LOTR thread every couple of weeks or so, and movies hardly at all.) I imagine LOTR talk is going to increase soon anyway, but if I and others are going to the movies thread to talk about it, that's a lot more fodder for discussion for people who are now only catching one side of it.

I'm coming more strongly to the position that since we don't really know what our problem is, I'd prefer not to eliminate or drastically change threads that are currently active. I think we're getting a little beyond "housekeeping" with some of this. DS is small, but fairly regular. Smallville seems less so, but that will probably change soon. LOTR certainly has its devotees. Those aren't just administrative changes.

ETA:

Why not move ALL closed threads off this board? Leave them up for ONE WEEK, no more than that. Then we put the in "The Attic."

Huh. Would that cause problems for people who hadn't gotten all the way through the thread yet, with finding where they left off? I'm thinking mostly Natter or Bitches here, especially for non-daily folks. But it seems like an ok idea to me, if it would help.

And now I'm starting to feel like one of the Atlantic Canadians stumbling across a proposal that we don't need that thread.

There's the rub. I have flat out stated that if we have to, I'm okay with seeing Farscape dumped, and I stand by that.

But when push comes to shove, I really do want to keep my space to discuss Farscape, and think maybe we should just leave the three threads alone. They're obviously not contributing heavily to the problem, considering the volume of traffic there.

I mean ultimately, if we really want to do something about the problem, we need to cut Natter.

Flat out, yo.

Okay, I'm going to be a dick.

Everyone has damn fine reasons for keeping threads. Where you gonna keep 'em when the board goes KA-FUCKING-BOOM next month?

Cutting down on threads, consolidating them, is going to make some people unhappy.

I love the Minear thread. I really do. But you know what? Get rid of it. If it'll help, delete it.

I sincerely believe that we have to tighten our belts now, so we can enjoy the board for a long time.

Choose Natter! Kill Natter!

Huh. Would that cause problems for people who hadn't gotten all the way through the thread yet, with finding where they left off?

Don't know, don't care. We're all bright people, we can figure it out.

Huh. Would that cause problems for people who hadn't gotten all the way through the thread yet, with finding where they left off?

Don't know, don't care. We're all bright people, we can figure it out.

Actually, I let my thought get derailed there. Will it cause any probs when people are still subscribed and message center is looking for a thread that's not there anymore?

Ah! I don't know. But how long would you keep a closed thread on the board for the people then? Two weeks? A month?

Keep up or DIE! i say.

If you try to look for a closed thread in your message center, a virus slags your hard drive and blows out all the chips on your motherboard.