Whitefont in Natter is fun, whitefont in show threads, not so much.

So my thinking is that we should try both a single show thread or two and a bucket thread or two during this test period. Seems to be the best way to get a feel for the viability of both types.

This makes sense.

The British shows might be best in a bucket since they are currently whitefont.

The current Boxed Set shows work well enough together because of the different season schedules. I think BSG could support a thread, but new shows are way far away.

(Except if it jumps Sam and Dean 5 years into the future and they're working for the FBI....)

That's just mean.

I'm leery of the practicality of too general a thread with all blackfont, but an British TV thread? Even worse. Different countries getting it at different times, not to mention the torrenters? Logistical nightmare spoilerwise.

You take SG out of Boxed Set, you break Boxed Set.

But again I ask--what's to be learnt by spinning off, say, SGA from Boxed Set that wasn't learnt spinning off Heroes? I don't see the point.

I've accepted it because if I start speculating on what will happen in the next season of SPN I'm setting myself up for heartbreak... and I have no confidence in the network wisdom of the CW.

For the record, while I (obviously) supported spinning off a Heroes thread, it will be uphill work to sell me on a new thread at this point in time, especially because we're right on the cusp of a number of shows either finishing their runs or so very on the bubble that they might as well have a stated end date.

I thought, and still do, that Heroes was a special case in regards to this board and our community zeitgeist. As will be Drive and Eureka when it recommences.

So my thinking is that we should try both a single show thread or two and a bucket thread or two during this test period. Seems to be the best way to get a feel for the viability of both types.

This makes sense.

We already know single show threads work, but that some shows aren't suited to them, while others generate posting volume that makes them preferable (and even necessary).

We already know bucket threads work for some people and not others, and that most of us want the bucketing to make some sort of sense. For some people, sense-making comes in the form of clear, bright lines, while other people are less concerned with the clear, bright lines.

My hope, in setting up this experiment, it to get a better idea of which shows we will actually talk about, in TV threads. We all have shows we love. Some of them are going to generate conversation, but some aren't.

So, what do people think is a fair black/white font policy for this experiment?

I want to be clear -- I'm asking about black/white font for the experiment, only. And I'm asking about it for the experiment only, because I want to maximize participation in the experiment. The more Buffistas who participate, the better idea we'll have at the end, of what works best for most members of the community, and what most members of the community are willing to tolerate in TV related threads.

Though it sucks for those that try to wade through Boxed. Perhaps one of the test threads can be for shows that are currently whitefonted in Boxed?

This has been repeated a couple of times (and I know I'm screaming into the wind this point), but it's not whitefont or wading that makes Boxed Set suck for some people.

The problem with Boxed Set is getting spoiled for shows you're a season behind on but still want to watch, while trying to talk about shows you are caught up on.

Like, say someone was really behind on BSG and waiting for the DVDs to come out to catch up on the last season, or behind on one SG but not the other, but you really really want to talk about the SG you are caught up on, or you want to talk about SPN.

All of the sudden, Boxed Set isn't about sucking because you have to wade through irrellevant posts or whitefont, it's a place you can't go in at all.

You take SG out of Boxed Set, you break Boxed Set.

But from my perspective Boxed Set is already broken. That's the thing.

When we start talking about altering established threads, we move beyond buckets and into the realm of thread culture. I am sorry that the thread doesn't work for everyone, because I'm sure we'd all love to have ND and Sean and Kristin and others posting in there about BSG or other shows. But that thread has been around a long time, and there's a base of posters who like that thread the way it is for more reasons than simply what shows are discussed in there. As Nutty mentioned in the last TV debate, it's not just a TV discussion thread, it's a mediafannish thread. Shows, especially the Stargates, are discussed in a way that's particular to media fandom (rather than just general TV discussion, or even Buffista TV discussion). I'm not saying that's all that goes on in there, but I feel like moving the Stargates would be the equivalent of taking all discussions of corsets or makeup or motherhood out of Bitches.

(I hope that doesn't sound dismissive of Bitches, because it's completely not intended.)

I'm not saying that's all that goes on in there, but I feel like moving the Stargates would be the equivalent of taking all discussions of corsets or makeup or motherhood out of Bitches.

I tend to agree. Boxed Set is more than the sum of its shows.

If it's about the way that they are discussed, is there a way for us to have another place for us to discuss them? Keep them in both perhaps?

I used to post on SG1 back before all of the thread merging made Boxed Set too big for me to handle. I may have even been in favor, or at least indifferent to the merge at the time, but what ended up happening is that I lost posting about some of the shows I like.