I am guessing that people other than myself have gone into Natter and seen that it is all about a show they are not watching, and had some difficulty wedging their off-current-topic item into the flow.

I think that happens all the time - at least to me. But I always figured that part of the democracy of the board is that stuff gets talked about depending on interest at the moment, not necessarily interest in the topic.

I can see the benefit of Watch-n-Post, only in that it takes the conversation out of Natter. When I lived in Mountain Time, I always felt stupid posting my Angel OMG moments when it was old news to those who had been reading the board.

Getting back to the original topic, Lovesick has now convinced me that having a Lost thread or whatever else we chose is a good thing. Lovesick served a need existing when we created it and now it's harming no one by just sitting there.

I am an east-coaster, and yet,

I've never yet participated in a watch-and-post. Not that I could, as my computer is in a different room than the tv.

This is me.

I'd vote for a Lost thread. I like talking about any show I watch (more often reading what others have to say) the next day, and trying to find the topic in Natter can be frustrating. Then, if I want to say something about it, I feel like I'm interrupting the flow of whatever else is going on at the moment, so I don't.

I also think Dead Like Me is our kind of show and would sustain some interesting discussion, but I, regretfully, feel there are two reasons it wouldn't be a good thread choice. I don't think enough people watch it, and it's only 13 episodes a year, which are almost over until this next summer assuming it's picked up again.

Then a watch-n-post thread serves to remove this sort of discussion from places where it is not wanted.

Ah. That's the opposite direction from the one I was coming from. And actually, I wouldn't want to start threads just to get things out of Natter -- I'd want to start them because people have more to stay than can work in Natter.

I'd want to start them because people have more to stay than can work in Natter.

That's why I'm all for a Lost thread. We're getting quite a bit of post-episode speculation and analysis already, it's NOT just watch-and-post. I think the show is one that is generating a lot of traffic and it needs its own thread.

(and, of course, by "stay" I meant "say," but everyone got that, right?)

I think that a general, free-for-all spoilers thread should be added to the proposal.

NSM the W&P thread, but if there are people who want it, what the Hell, we're already voting. (It, to me, feels more like something that mostly makes life easier for the people who'd like it out of Natter, without a real upside for the people who want to do them. Or, at the very least, it sounds like a huge PitA, logistically. But that may just be because I am outside of the W&P demographic.)

I'm not enamored of the Watch-and-Post thread idea, because I think it would be confusing to follow--more so than Natter, actually, as I see it, because it seems like the idea would be to take general discussion of the shows back to Natter anyway, and then we'd be left with a thread consisting mostly of "Holy shit!" and "Hey, it's what's-his-face" and very little actual content. Also, I agree with this:

And actually, I wouldn't want to start threads just to get things out of Natter -- I'd want to start them because people have more to say than can work in Natter.

I have been anti-proliferation, but honestly, if we have the resources, open all the threads people want.

I like the stuff being in Natter, but then again I never liked the show threads that much and I skip over so many discussions in Natter that show talk and whitefont don't bother me at all. It just is the nature of the thread and a board with this many people.

I don't get the concern about purpose of the board. The board is different things to different people. Basically if enough people using the board vote to have something here, then it serves the purpose. The purpose will change as people come and go and people will come and go as the board shifts.

The header is outdated and makes no sense at this point. If anything, we should change it to read something more accurate. We are a bunch of people who originally came together to discuss these shows that no longer exist. Now we are just a bunch of people who kinda know each other and will talk a lot about a variety of topics.

You know how I use Douglas Adams' books' quotes to feel out if a person I've just met is my version of cool or not?

The ME shows were like that for me. If someone was a fan of those shows in particular, there was a good chance they'd be someone I had other things and ways of looking at the world in common with. Buffistas were a group of people that had the fandom commonality, and who enjoyed those shows in a particular manner. Our "One of us, one of us!" rally cries that we indulged in when we found a soul we could communicate with? Came from interest in that particular source material.

The fear of my deep dark potentially elitist heart? That if our board gives primary focus to shows other than that we were originally drawn together over, that we will avoid stagnation at the cost of attracting an utterly different crowd of people. You might not have felt this if you didn't frequent those threads, but there was a subtle shift with even Firefly and Wonderfalls, and those I felt were in our scope. I think it will be even more marked if we build the future of our board around shows without ties to that particular breed of fiction that we all enjoy.

I don't think we've stagnated so far, and I don't think we're necessarily going to.

It doesn't mean we don't talk about other things and other shows, because boy, howdy, do we. But I don't want to need a current show thread, and I don't want to make our focus that perceived need. I don't think we're a general purpose tv board, and I would oppose threads that would make us that. So definitely, I would prefer not to have a general spoilers thread (which I see as just a general tv thread for the spoiled only) and sadly, would also prefer not to see a Lost thread.

The fear of my deep dark potentially elitist heart? That if our board gives primary focus to shows other than that we were originally drawn together over, that we will avoid stagnation at the cost of attracting an utterly different crowd of people. You might not have felt this if you didn't frequent those threads, but there was a subtle shift with even Firefly and Wonderfalls, and those I felt were in our scope. I think it will be even more marked if we build the future of our board around shows without ties to that particular breed of fiction that we all enjoy.

Liese speaks for me.