It wouldn't bother me at all to skip by Heroes discussion in the thread if I just didn't care for or about Heroes.

I know this is a proposal about Heroes and not any of the other shows that generate discussion, but for me it's important to know if Heroes is typical or atypical as this decision is made.

I am still anti-proliferation, despite our relative freedom on this dedicated server. Currently all the posts are kept in one table, and since we haven't been purging threads (which I consider a good thing, since searching archived threads can be a bother), the table's pretty big right now.

John H had a good idea (I think it was him) about splitting each thread into its own table. That would give us more breathing room (though each change only has limited breathing room to explore) for multiple threads. Not that it's on the to-do list anywhere but in my head.

So I'm still the same girl I used to be, just for different precise reasons, same general ones.

I think Heroes gets a lot of discussion, and it tends to be intricate and detail-oriented, full of debates about minutiae and implications. It's also a highly-rated show that's definitely been renewed; with its own thread, it might become a draw for new users.

I haven't found that it completely screws up the conversations around it due to its 900-lb-gorilla-ness, but then, I'm usually part of those conversations.

(I don't want to completely denude Boxed Set, which is why I'm a little hesitant. If we strip Heroes, and then possibly Supernatural, out of Boxed Set, then we're back down to 2-3 Sci Fi Channel shows in that thread, plus all the dead/British/ahemmed shows. Which isn't that much traffic, really.)

It may not be hesitance so much as gathering enough strength to carry on an extended discussion amongst several other conversations.

What crystallized my realization that a dedicated Heroes thread would be a good thing was Burrell's asking in Natter where to go to discuss it. I see the show drawing a large and broad enough variety of Buffistas to sustain a dedicated dialogue, not to mention activities like Watch 'N Posts.

I've no doubt that Boxed Set will have more than enough posting on the many remaining shows to more than sustain itself. It's a non-zero-sum game situation, wherein we'll enhance the community by having a new show discussion added, making it easier to find the discussion, as well as those people who want to avoid it will have that many fewer posts to wade through.

It crystallised for you for Heroes, but not for Eureka. What was the difference for you there?

Just a reminder of how this voting thing works, since it\'s been six months:

Four days of discussion followed by three days of voting. Theo will need to come up with final wording by early Sunday, at which time I\'ll open the \"ballot box\". We\'ll need a volunteer to count votes. Voting will end next Wednesday morning.

Adding a thread for heroes will have exactly zero measurable effect on server performance.

Worries about server performance should not factor into anyone's decision on whether to add a thread for Heroes or not.

Adding a thread for heroes will have exactly zero measurable effect on server performance.

Let's say for the sake of argument that we suddenly doubled the number of threads on the board. Would the load on the server stay the same, or would the amount of activity grow to fill the number of threads?

Adding a Heroes thread does have the possibility of adding load on the server. We could, in theory, add a whole new bunch of users who are Heroes fans. In a worst-case scenario, we could start attracting Heroes VIPs to the board, and increase the server load dramatically.

The point I'm trying to make is that there's no way to predict what kind of impact a new thread will have on the board.

Adding a thread for heroes will have exactly zero measurable effect on server performance.

We need to talk, then. Because I've been attributing slower query times to increased size of the table being queried. All the relevant queries are tuned as finely as I can get them.

If there's something else, I need to get that fix on the mental to-do list instead.

eta:

Adding a Heroes thread does have the possibility of adding load on the server.

I'd say more than the possibility. Ease of making more posts has already been cited as a rationale, plus that always happens anyway.

Frankly, I think that if any show should get it's own thread, it's BSG. Perhaps I only "notice" the number of posts because I don't watch it, while I do watch and want to read about Heroes.

I like Heroes in Boxed Set. I don't think it's sufficiently more special than SPN (which I don't watch) or BSG (which I do) to deserve its own thread, unless we break Boxed Set down completely and just have individual threads for everything.

For me, the risk is that Heroes becomes another Lost -- if they can't sustain their current level of storytelling for multiple seasons, we won't be able to sustain our current level of discussion about it. I'd really rather not end up with another thread consisting of 10 posts a week saying "WTF? Why am I still watching this?" I prefer threads with more permanance and flexibility.

(PS, I also think we should close the Lost thread. But that's another proposal.)