Jon - good job on the Pros and Cons. Just a couple of comments...

4) Close Previously:

For: Old Buffy eps can be discussed in the main Buffy thread. Old Angel eps can be discussed in the main Angel thread, in Natter, in Unamerican, or even in Buffy.

Against: With Angel starting up in syndication this Fall, it will be frustrating not to have a central place where old Angels can be discussed. The main Angel thread won't work -- Unamericans won't want to be spoiled on current episodes. The other suggested threads all have other purposes.

Jon, I'd like to see included in the "For" argument, the following (worded more concisely *hopeful*):

• Not only that old BtVS and Angel episode discussions "can" take place in the main show threads, but always have, even given the existence of the "Previously" thread.

• Previously may have been created as a central place for rerun discussion, but it wasn't universally adopted, and therefore didn't serve as a central place, even if that was its purpose.

• UnAmericans aren't on the North American rerun schedule to begin with

11) Close Angel Spoilage Lite:

For: Casting and other "lite" spoilers can be confirmed by emailing one of our known spoiler whores, or by writing in the main thread "I'd like a rumor confirmed. Can someone help me?"

Against: Some people visit Spoilers Lite to read about casting spoilers they might not have otherwise known about. You can't ask a question in the main thread if you don't know what the question is. The main thread has a very strict spoiler policy. It's nice to have a central place to learn about non-plot-point-specific spoilers like casting news.

I'd like to see the "For" section, modified to note:

• People can use the board's "last" function, which will take them to the last page of the thread with the posting box, and post their questions in spoilers, without having to page through the whole spoiler thread.

• People can check TVGuide.com (The stated purpose of Lite is for TV Guide level spoilage), Zap2it, Sci-Fire Wire, etc., for casting spoilers.

In your "Against" section, you state:

You can't ask a question in the main thread if you don't know what the question is.

You might want to reword this. Are you trying to say that you can't ask many questions without spilling a spoiler? Also? You can ask in the main show thread, if someone will answer a question in the regular spoilers thread, so that you can know whose post to look for, thus avoiding being spoiled. You can also ask in the main thread if someone email you at your profile addy, to answer your question - which you then ask in email. Your point as now worded isn't clear, and sort of hedges around the fact that there are other ways to get lightly spoiled.

I have a strong urge to be a brat and note that Angel is being syndicated in the US, not abroad, and therefore the UnAms may not be feeling the same deep, heartfelt need to discuss each syndicated episode as it airs. But hey, I could be wrong.

It's going to be on Canada's Space channel every weeknight (12am Atlantic time), however, our Buffy syndication schedule differs quite a bit from that on F/X, so likely our Angel episodes will not match up either.

Yes, but even if they do, NAFDA threads are Canadian-safe (although there are longer lines at the borders since y'all went pot-happy - erm... openly pot-happy). Canadians are people North Americans, too.

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Does a vote for question 2 support closing Buffy quotable now or after we finish the death matches?

After the death matches. It will be clear on the ballot, but I'll edit my Pros and Cons to make it clear there as well.

Cindy -- I just woke up. I'll need a little time to mentally process your concise additions. ;)

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Cindy -- I just woke up. I'll need a little time to mentally process your concise additions. ;)

Oh dear. You do need time, because I wasn't claiming I was concise. I was hoping you could concise me up.

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Are you trying to say that you can't ask many questions without spilling a spoiler?

No, I'm saying that if you don't know that a spoiler exists, you can't ask a question about it.

I edited in your comments to #'s 4 and 11, Cindy. I felt that the Con side needed additions to balance your comments, but hopefully I did so fairly.

t edit

I was hoping you could concise me up.

I now have visions of two beefy copy editors. "We're going to Concise [clap] You Up!"

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No, I'm saying that if you don't know that a spoiler exists, you can't ask a question about it.

Okay, so people would miss Spoilers lite serves as a source, as well as a place to ask rumor confirmation questions. Duh on me. Thanks for explaining.

I saw the changes to number 4. It looks good and also fair.

eta

(Look out, Hans and Franz are right behind us. Run for your words! Run for your words!)

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Thanks Cindy. I'm really trying to be fair and was nervous about what you would think.

Proposed Preamble (added to my post above) (comment welcome) --

Preamble: Eleven ballot questions?! WTF!?!
The last Buffy episode has been aired in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc., and some of our threads have become redundant. It's housecleaning time! To the extent possible, it's best to get this all out of the way now, before the US fall TV season begins. In addition, we recently learned that our current usage is overloading our server. We are working on coding changes to improve this, so there's no need to panic and implement draconian cuts, but removing redundancies on our board will help the situation.

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Nice Jon, and thanks for the Pro/Con summary, it was helpful to me.

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My attempt:

6) Consolidate Due South, Smallville and Farscape:

For: These shows could be considered genre, pulp or hoyay shows. The threads have many of the same posters and/or posters with similar interests. Combining them would allow posters to respond to more posts in the same thread, rather than spreading their responses across two or three threads.

Against: Each has, to some extent, become a subcommunity. Those who watch one particular show do not want to wade through discussion of the other two to discuss their particular show. Those who have not yet seen one or more of the shows but wish to discuss the one they do watch do not wish to be spoiled on show(s) they haven't seen. It is feared it could become a general TV thread.

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Thanks Deena. I tightened up your attempt a little bit and added it to my much-edited post above.

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Jon - some of the points Kristen has made (as far as I can tell and remember, some of these are paraphrased from her post #3233 in this thread)

• We currently have 34 open threads

• We need to compromise and combine/delete some

• We don't have to panic (that's Kristen's job, and possibly panicking is unionized - I wasn't quite clear on that)

• We don't need to make core community damaging cuts (like deleting Natter/Bitches)

• Thread consolidation is necessary for board health
  

(More threads usually leads to more posts, more loading pages, more database connections open at once)

• Finding small ways to conserve will add up and help overall.

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