I may be completely wrong about this, but weren't the majority of new posters in Firefly and Minearverse brought here by the VIP postings?

Again, I'll speak up as one data point.

So unless JJ Abrams comes and posts in a Lost thread, I don't think it's going to attract a great number of new posters to our board.

And we could always hide it from Google by calling it the Found thread or something.

But i'm in total agreement that we should go ahead with what we have on the table rather than trying to devise new things right now. (And, if the proposals on the table do pass, it would likely moot this idea anyway. If they do not pass, then that might be a time to throw some other ideas out there.)

Excellent, thanks for clarifying.

And would choose different options even though we might want to be voting for the same thing. Help?

If what you want is for it to be closed and then have a new spoilers thread opened, you would pick close and then wait for someone to propose a new thread, Jen. You'd pick repurpose if you wanted to keep the thread open and use it for general spoilers instead of Angel spoilers.

But it sounds like the repurposing idea, which to me would just mean changing the name on the thread, isn't the best thing for anyone -- even the board, if Jessica is correct. If that's the case, my inclination is to make this vote on Angel Spoilers a straight archive/keep vote, like the other two. What I'm not sure about is whether I should then add a general spoilers thread to this ballot, or leave that for a later proposal.

I may be completely wrong about this, but weren't the majority of new posters in Firefly and Minearverse brought here by the VIP postings?

Sure. There was the TVGuide Channel thing, and with Whedonesque and such, that's bound to happen.

I was going through threads for research, recently, and found that there were lots of people who came in specifically to talk to Joss or Tim, and didn't much engage with anyone else, and then were never seen or heard from again. There's a small incedence of people like Minearnoseeyes people fishing for "celebrity" posts. I don't think it changed the board at all, I think that the end of Buffy and Angel changed things a bit. The one thing most of us had in common and could gather around is gone.

Lost isn't going to bring that back. But I don't think that is what Lyra Jane is saying.

I don't see stagnation, either, though.

we could always hide it from Google by calling it the Found thread or something.

Hiding from google is way overrated, and with a word like "lost" more effort than it could ever be worth.

LJ speaks of repurposing the way I'd always used it.

LJ, I think you should go ahead and put an option for a general spoilers thread on the ballot for clarity. It seems to have received support in this discussion.

While this is not what's being read by anyone, as far as I can tell, I did want to clarify on one thing coming from me.

First, I am not unhappy with the aforementioned subtle shift. The board will, of course, grow and change, as the posters change, etc. I am happy with the wonderful Buffistas that have joined us with their interest in those new shows.

Secondly, it's definitely not that I don't want to see new posters coming in. I think it's great, and it's important for us as a community to continue to have new folks finding us and joining the fray.

Lastly, however, my concern was more towards feeling that the appeal of Buffistas comes from our friendships, which come from our common interests. It's a desire to see that the boards continue to be a place where we can find each other across a crowded internet. It's more about continuing to draw the people that have these same things in common with us, and together with whom we can enjoy each others' company, banter, snark and wisdom. Of course we want a diverse community. But we also want to have some commonality to build on.

So. I realize that some of my language may have come off as exclusionary, and I hope that's not the case. I apologize for giving that impression. Please let me know if I've been hurtful in any way.

Meanwhile, we'll still be fine no matter what, we'll still be us, and we'll get to talk to each other about what we're interested in. We're just voting on how we want to do that.

Thanks for the clarification, Lyra.

I may be completely wrong about this, but weren't the majority of new posters in Firefly and Minearverse brought here by the VIP postings?

I was going to say the same thing, but Wolfram beat me to it (by... uh... 5 hours).

my inclination is to make this vote on Angel Spoilers a straight archive/keep vote, like the other two.

I agree. It also avoids a situation of no choice getting a majority of votes (unless you want to do prfffffffial vffftting).

I'd be for having a separate vote now on whether to create a general spoilers thread.

Based on the feedback from today, here is the

• **REVISED DRAFT BALLOT***

There has been a lot of discussion about the possibility of adding additional show-specific threads. After last week's poll and discussion, these are the thread ideas that seem worth voting on. Any threads started through this vote will be closed and archived if the show is cancelled, unless there is a specific reason to keep the thread.

1. Should we add a Lost thread?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

2. Should we add a The O.C. thread?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

3. Should we add a general reality TV thread?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

4. Should we add a general TV spoilers thread? Whitefont policy is to be determined later.
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

To keep our post table and number of threads managable, one option is closing and archiving threads that are no longer in use.

5. Should we close and archive Previously on Angel?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

6. Should we close and archive Angel Quotables, after the deathmatches finish?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

7. Should we close and archive Angel Spoilers?
_ Yes
_ No
_ Abstain

Comment: If we're proposing a general spoilers thread anyhow, is there any other reason to keep the up/down votes on the Angel threads separate? Because if not, I'm inclined to combine them.