My preference would be for the structure to be as informal as possible. I'd prefer nothing more than "we're discussing this book from date X to date Y." If people want to do things like post discussion questions, then I'd much rather they be posed as, "Hey, what do you guys think about this?" than as "Here's what we're discussing now."

My preference would be for the structure to be as informal as possible. I'd prefer nothing more than "we're discussing this book from date X to date Y." If people want to do things like post discussion questions, then I'd much rather they be posed as, "Hey, what do you guys think about this?" than as "Here's what we're discussing now."

That's exactly how I see it too.

I'm with Hil and Wolfram.

So, people who asked about structure, how are we doing? Have we proved we've thought about this and that it's not going to be a mess--or more of a mess than any other thread on this board?

I think we can fairly say, and this ties into the subcommunities part of this discussion, that there are different thread cultures in different threads on this board. Bitches is different as a place to hang out in from Music. Literary is different, too.

I read this proposal as "The culture in the existing book thread isn't what I want it to be, so I want a new book thread." I will believe that the current Literary thread is inhospitable to a book club when I see the experiment tried and failed.

Good point, Hil. People can just throw in with observations that strike them as interesting instead of feeling confined to a particular topic. Leaves room for parallel discussions, too, and whichever topics take off are the ones that take off. Yep. Work it like the show threads. Good point.

I will believe that the current Literary thread is inhospitable to a book club when I see the experiment tried and failed.

While I agree with the supporters of the book thread, I also agree with Betsy, and have said something similar twice already to no response.

Or we could try the book club thread, and if that experiment fails we move it into Literary.

if that experiment fails we move it into Literary.

How would moving it to Literary fix anything? The idea is that a book club can work -- let's try incrementally implementing it.

Once whole hog fails, nothing else is a viable alternative, is it?

Unless there are denizens of Literary who are against that. Which I have not seen. I have seen Pro-Book Club folk worrying that there are Literary people who will be put out, and I share that worry, but if someone said 'Me! Me! A Book club would ruin Literary for me" I missed it.

While I wouldn't say it would ruin Literary, I still really want the book club to have its own thread, and here's why: if I wanted to talk about some other book in the middle of the book club discussion, it'd be like trying to talk cats or politics in Natter right after a new OC or Alias airs, only worse, because it'd go on longer. And I'm speaking as a denizen of Literary who's at least open to trying the book club to see if I'll like the style of reading and can fit an assigned book into my new busy, baby-enhanced lifestyle.

Of course, as long as we have the technical resources to handle it, I tend to be pro-proliferation in general. I'm most familiar with multiple-threaded boards like TT, and I like the topicality.

Or we could try the book club thread, and if that experiment fails we move it into Literary.

Right, but in the process, we've created a new thread, which has been argued as bad by people with valid points. There is a tangible risk there (I'm referring to the board strain, not the community-splintering), whereas the risks involved in trying it in Lit are intangible and unpredictable. I think we have less to lose by trying it in Literary. If it works, great; if it doesn't, we get our own thread. I know there have been arguments that the Lit atmosphere isn't right, but so far I haven't seen anyone in Lit say, "Please don't have a Book Club in my thread."