Well, I think we understand each other, ita. I just disagree that hardness and potential bitterness should close the discussion. I personally feel particularly bitter about the Literary thread flap, but, y'know, I'm still trying to be a part of this community for better or worse.

I just disagree that hardness and potential bitterness should close the discussion.

If you're willing to spearhead it, I thought you should be aware of the history.

Me, I've been there, done that, not eager to return.

Just to be sure I understand the situation wrt resources:

Right now we are on a dedicated server. We have lots of room but it is expensive. We want to not have a dedicated server in the future. That may mean reducing traffic if we let things get too out of hand now.

Is that right?

If you're willing to spearhead it, I thought you should be aware of the history.

Not I! Too ignorant about the other threads.

Personally, I'd fight to keep FF open. It's on topic fairly regularly and there is a movie coming up in the not too distant future. Also, it's an established thread within this community. And, you know, mentioned on our front page and all.

If someone wanted to propose to close Minearverse [this one we might want to put on extended hiatus until DVDs come out, Moon goes into production or Tim does another show], Lovesick Ass [though I'd probably ask to wait until after Comicon so people can talk about the eps they see there] or Spoilers...well, I'd be sad to see them go but I wouldn't oppose the idea.

If having a new thread isn't going to break the system, it should just be a consideration right? Not the only consideration? (I think maybe that's what I was getting at when I said "ita's always anti") I feel like that's what it's becoming.

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.

Betsy (and Polter-Cow) speak for me.

I'd like to see a Book Club tried in Literary rather than under a separate thread.

I think what ita's saying is that it isn't going to break the current system, but cause trouble in the future. So, yeah, it doesn't seem like the only consideration, but like an important word of caution ita's telling us to remember that times will not be so flush in the future, and that she doesn't want to make the decisions about which threads live or die. It seems to me, though, that maybe we should keep the caution in mind (because it's a pretty big concern), but also consider other factors in voting, such as whether we think it'll be useful in the short term or what need it will fill in the community.

I mean, this isn't at the level of Bush's tax cuts -- no one's proposing that every special interest get its own thread -- so, as far as I can tell, we can't say at this point whether we'll be actually screwed in the future or not (or if so, at what level -- whether we'd have to choose between just this thread and one other or whether we'd have to cut 10 threads), but it is a big expenditure, and should be approached as such.

I personally feel particularly bitter about the Literary thread flap, but, y'know, I'm still trying to be a part of this community for better or worse.

And I'm sorry for the kneejerk snippiness on my part that may well have contributed to that, hayden.

As far as a Book Group thread goes, I may or may not contribute to one. I'm already in a face to face book group and there've been a couple of times this year when I didn't finish the book in time for that. It'll probably come down to the books chosen and how much my job it jumping on my head. If we do try the Book Group idea within Literary it won't particularly bother me. It's one of my favorite threads as is, but I enjoy reading in-depth analysis of books, even when I disagree with it. I have no problem with three posts on water symbolism in TS Eliot, two posts on the new Cruise book coming out next week, and three more o n Eliot. (Of course, that's kind of how my mind works anyway.) If it's a significant drain on resources -- stompy time resources and programming time as well as server resources -- I'd be inclined to go against a separate thread.

So, to sum up: book groups -- yay, book group thread -- maybe.

I'd like to see a Book Club tried in Literary rather than under a separate thread.

And what about the argument (though it was in reference to a general tv thread, I think it applies) that general discussions make the conversation unweildy?