I oppose the book club thread because we can't be all things to all people. We have hashed out why we don't want to start every passing fancy thread before, and I don't see why book club is distinguishable from the Alias thread, the OC forum, Alias spoilers, Alias backstory, the all cats all the time symposium, the diet colloquy, the knitting thread, and the one-person "bon bon rules" thread. Why after book club gets going shouldn't I propose any of the preceding threads? Why shouldn't I get one?

Miracleman, your take totally ignores the fact that there is a cross-over element between advocates of the Book Club, and Literary thread posters. If I have the chronology correct, brenda made a comment IN LITERARY, expressing a wish for a structured discussion. Heather made a suggestion IN LITERARY, that a book club might provide structure. Wolfram got the idea IN LITERARY, to come to bureaucracy and make his proposal. If any of these three have said they don't want to use Literary the way it is used right now (and they may have--there have been a lot of posts here), then I've missed it.

No...the fact that the idea germinated IN LITERARY doesn't mean anything. Since I said that I have seen two people who were not actively pushing for a book club thread to participate in come in and voice the opinion that a book club might disrupt the Literary thread. So I stand corrected on that point. But this part...

If any of these three have said they don't want to use Literary the way it is used right now (and they may have--there have been a lot of posts here), then I've missed it.

Had nothing to do with what I said. I never claimed that proponents of a book club thread would abandon Literary or not use it the way it is right now. I actually have no idea what you're talking about.

I'd say if you had enough seconds you should, we'd all talk about how much we did or didn' want it and vote. I don't see how a book club is that much different than music or movies.

I might skim it for recs, but I probably wouldn't be as posty as I would be in a book club.

Cindy, is your point that while anti-proliferation remains a valid concern for the board, this thread will not push us over the edge?

Cause Yeah, I agree, but adding another small layer of disussion at the base just makes the gap between where we are now (operating ok, while the MySQL issues still exist) and crashboom (which will happen when those things we can't control - movie opening, VIPs, links...) isn't helpful either.

I might skim it for recs, but I probably wouldn't be as posty as I would be in a book club.

So, wait...if there were the sort of in-depth discussions and whatnot that you yearn for going on in Literary, you wouldn't involve yourself in them? But you would in a Book Club thread?

So, wait...if there were the sort of in-depth discussions and whatnot that you yearn for going on in Literary, you wouldn't involve yourself in them?

They aren't going on in Literary. See above for why- "I think it has to do with my brain being single focused and wanting to discuss X right NOW and not wade through stuff to get there. Same reason Literary doesn't work quite right either. I want discussion, not just, I read X what did you think?"-buffista b

You said "I never claimed that proponents of a book club thread would abandon Literary or not use it the way it is right now."

I was saying I wouldn't use it the way it's used right now.

Actually, ita (and everybody), what I'm proposing is that we act like we're on a budget if we're on a budget and prioritize between the threads we have and the threads we may want, sort of like bon bon's argument upthread about how we can't be all things to all people. Let the community decide democratically whether the new thread is more important that any one of the existing threads. That's what I mean by internal review. For instance, I may like my back-up guitar very much, even though I only play it occasionally, but if I want a new effects pedal, I have to choose between selling my back-up guitar and getting the new effects pedal. Of course, this is more complicated when other people are involved, but the concept is the same.

That's what I mean by internal review.

I get what you meant. And I return you to the whole "closing threads is hard" thing.

Once a thread is created, it develops a subcommunity, and we haven't quite become the community that can yank threads willy nilly -- the consolidation still has people bitter.

We do though, have a quotable thread that is slated to close soon. Does that make any difference?