I'd go from the bottom up, starting with non-show/natter threads with the least amount of posts.
Giles ,'Beneath You'
Voting Discussion: We're Screwing In Light Bulbs AIFG!
We open it up, we talks the talk, we votes, we shuts it down. This thread is to free up Bureaucracy for daily details as we hammer out the Big Issues towards a vote. Open only when a proposal has been made and seconded according to Buffista policy (Which we voted on!). If this thread is closed, hie thee to Bureaucracy instead!
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.
Huh. I'm guessing if we shut down Natter and Bitches, they'd crop up elsewhere--we'd take them to PeoplesForum or wherever. And I, for one, would probably spend almost all my time in the Natter Diaspora and almost never come here. And maybe that's the idea. But it wouldn't seem like Buffistas anymore.
Eliminating Natter would, largely, serve to disconnect the Americans and Unamericans, wouldn't it?
What if we eliminated (for example, really) Movies, Music, Literary, etc. and those discussions returned to Natter? It would a) potentially reduce number of posts (with that whole dirty counter analogy) and b) if Natter were denser there might be less refreshing.
Oh, this is where the talk is.
Feck.
I don't want people to panic RIGHT NOW. Let's give it a few days, and if the quotes abolishment, on top of the rapid closing makes no difference, let's panic then. We can go all out.
I'm going to take some time and put together stats.
It's pretty easy to gank hits/bandwidth.
And, to give an idea of the people that stop by that we know nothing of, top 30 of 40 countries:
#HitsFilesKBytesCountry 142616237.56%25317734.41%413314434.04%Network 238109033.59%26200135.61%397565032.75%US Commercial 313554811.95%7695110.46%149838412.34%Unresolved/Unknown 4798787.04%577717.85%10524038.67%US Educational 5225691.99%187242.54%3210662.64%Canada 6217001.91%150182.04%2765192.28%Australia 7216951.91%170202.31%2812242.32%US Government 8136211.20%96531.31%1834971.51%United Kingdom 9118351.04%101071.37%1588661.31%Non-Profit Organization 1075170.66%70150.95%1244221.02%Israel 1167950.60%46150.63%678650.56%New Zealand (Aotearoa) 1219610.17%5730.08%88240.07%United States 1311170.10%9750.13%203320.17%Netherlands 1410130.09%8840.12%112740.09%Switzerland 156000.05%3310.04%113010.09%Germany 163790.03%3440.05%54870.05%Norway 172720.02%1790.02%26670.02%Ireland 182300.02%1050.01%15110.01%Russian Federation 192020.02%680.01%14700.01%Singapore 201610.01%1610.02%21410.02%Japan 21650.01%570.01%7810.01%Argentina 22360.00%330.00%3370.00%Denmark 23230.00%230.00%3000.00%US Military 24160.00%160.00%1630.00%Belgium 25130.00%40.00%460.00%Brazil 26120.00%120.00%1030.00%Mexico 27100.00%100.00%680.00%Finland 28100.00%100.00%1280.00%Niue 2990.00%90.00%990.00%Italy 3080.00%80.00%690.00%Austria
Ken, this is the last in the proposed ballots. I am not the woman to be vetting an elimination of Natter or Bitches. It's also way beyond the scope of what I would be comfortable writing.
The House Keeping Proposal:
1. The Buffista Corp thread gets closed. Bless its Cafe Press heart.
2. At some point, post-death match that the Buffy quotable thread be closed.
3. The slug for the Previously thread will be changed to add Angel. It's still open whether or not it will say Angel or Angel and Buffy. or an elimination of the previously thread entirely. Leaving an Angel thread for concurrent discussions of current season and syndications. Also leaving the Buffy thread to continue discussing all of Buffy.
4. Change ita's username to adorable fluffy bo-bita.
5. Due South, Smallville and perhaps Farscape will be consolidated in some way.
We are still discussing this.
Some possibilities include closing all three threads.
Rolling all three threads into one and mentioning it's a thread for those three with some catchy Ikea like name.
Closing one thread or two threads only.
6. Buffy Spoilers Lite will be closed.
7. Change the name of the Buffy/Angel Spoilers thread to "Angel Spoilers"
8. Consolidate PPO and Bitchy Fic. And possibly the Bitches' Anthology. i The way it would work would be they would all be closed and archived and a new thread combining all three under a clever umbrella would open. Fanfic would still house discussion.
Questions:
1. Could Great Write Way, even though it's for original fiction and slightly different, go with the other three?
2. What other non show related threads could we trim?
3. Is there any more room to consolidate within the show threads?
Please don't kill me for this, but what about the three Firefly threads (the main one, Spoilers, and Quotable)? Could we start to phase out one or two of them once the UKers have seen all of the episodes?
I'm wondering if we can't lose the quotables threads entirely. Do people feel that it's an essential thread? Couldn't those posts reside within the threads for their respective shows?
In which case I think we should consider voting people off.
Dude, the posting generated by that debate on that would definitely knock us offline. And I'm pretty sure the same could be said for any serious discussion of eliminating Bitches and/or Natter.
So I'm voting for non panic.