Losing the Farscape thread will have the net effect of a hamster fart in a hurricane. Loosing Natter or Bitches will make a difference.

And when Natter/Bitches have moved to other threads, we'll keep consolidating down until...one thread with LOTS OF WHITEFONT? I mean, given that Natter fills the vacuum (i.e. any thread it can) do we become No-Natter Nazis? I don't mind bailing on Natter and Bitches, because the reason they came into being (i.e. swamping the Buffy thread) doesn't exist, as long as we have an Angel show thread seperate from all the the other discussion (plus spoilers, quotes, etc., within reason).

It's a problem. Natter and Bitches are for many people where the community actually lives.

Yup. I came for Buffy. I stayed for the natter.

And, of course, since we've expressed a desire to keep the Buffy thread open, we close Bitches and Natter, and Buffy absorbs them both, though again at a net loss in volume (though whether even that's good enough still remains to be seen).

It's a problem. Natter and Bitches are for many people where the community actually lives. The show threads are where the show discussion takes place, but a lot of us got to know each other in Natter.

I think this is the heart of it, on some level. We started or came here because of Buffy and many stayed for other reasons.

On the other hand, if it's a question of Natter or massive closure and consolidation of everything else not very directly show-related?

Do you mean upper or lower-case natter?

Other "solutions" designed to thin the herd:
1. Even/Odd Posting days. Justl like filling the car tank. You got an even user #, you get three days. You got an odd user #, you get three days. And then there is a day of rest.

2. The Elitist Solution. People with numbers over 500 are cutoff.

3. The next person who numbersluts is summarily shot.

Um. Those were all I had.

But if the eliminate Natter and/or Bitches is serious, then I would propose people pick one to save or kill both of them.

massive xpost

We do need to preserve as much culture as possible, because what's the point of saving a board no one enjoys, i agree.

However, we may not have a culture to preserve. We want to talk about Angel, we want to Natter, we want to Bitch.

But it's like this.

We're in a restaurant in the middle of the desert. There's no place else to get a meal.

There's a thousand of us, all at individual tables (computer) . We all have an individual waitress (connection) 250 want meatloaf (Natter), 250 want fried chicken (Bitches) 30 want the veggie plate (Smallville), 70 want scrambled eggs (Angel), 20 want quiche (fic), 20 want creamed spinach (Atlantic canadians) 20 want shrimp (Spoilers) 10 want imitation crabmeat on a roll (spoilers lite), 30 want coffee (Firefly) and so on. The rest is a hodgepodge of blue plate specials (Sang Sacre, Due South, PPO).

The problem is, there's only one cook in the kitchen, and while he can make one huge mutherfucking meatloaf and a few side dishes, he can't keep up with all the orders at once. He's going to have a fucking heart attack and then we'll all starve. So, we need to cut down on the menu items so that we'll not go hungry.

Some people will venture out into the desert in search of creme broulee.

Others will learn to like meatloaf.

me:

On the other hand, if it's a question of Natter or massive closure and consolidation of everything else not very directly show-related?

Kat:

Do you mean upper or lower-case natter?

I meant uppercase, the thread Natter.

If keeping Natter and Bitches alive means we have to kill other threads, the other threads with the highest traffic are the show threads.

I'm totally in agreement that Natter and Bitches are extremely important to the community. But the community came together about the shows, and I'm not sure that any of us is ready to give up the show-specific discussion just so we can keep Natter and Bitches going. And I'm not sure it would be fair to the many other members of the community who find Natter and Bitches too fast, too scary, or irrelevant.

I'm not proposing this, but at this stage I don't want us to assume that any potential solutions are verboten. Let's keep brainstorming this; eventually we'll find something that works. I hope.

I'd go from the bottom up, starting with non-show/natter threads with the least amount of posts.

Well since we're in voting, we better be DAMN specific that the discussion isn't about euthanizing the Natter and Bitches threads - at least not without some SERIOUS board-wide discussion/explanation.

'Suela, I was just clarifiying for my own edification.

I guess I just see this

On the other hand, if it's a question of Natter or massive closure and consolidation of everything else not very directly show-related?

More as a question of Natter/Bitches and not just Natter. Or even natter in general. Especially because, as Sean pointed out earlier today in Bureau because Bitches is currently carrying more or equivalent traffic to Natter.

But the community came together about the shows, and I'm not sure that any of us is ready to give up the show-specific discussion just so we can keep Natter and Bitches going.

I totally agree. I could foresee a board without Natter and Bitches. I'm also intrigued that should it not get renewed as seems distincly possible, given the WBs lack of promo and perceived enthusiasm for Angel, we may be having another discussion like this one next year reexamining with a "now what?" eye towards reinstating nattery threads.

That is if we don't go down in a flame of dispair first.

Ken, I think those threads, along with Mutant Enemy related threads, are part of board culture, and erasing the board culture doesn't make sense. I would be against such a proposal, and I don't think it'd get the prequisite secondsies. The resulting discussion alone would drown us.