I was also wondering about a "watch and post" thread. The problem with W&Ps is that they often end up like this:

God, what was she thinking when she chose that dress.

Is that George Clooney?

Honey, put your boobs back in.

Is she wearing a curtain?

That's what Natter can look like during the Oscars, for example. The conversation is inexplicable to non-watchers and comments on other topics can get lost. The SPN watch-and-posters are having such a good time that I wonder if people might like to do them for other shows on DVD. You could have planned W&Ps of awards shows or the Indy 500. In addition, if a discussion in an existing thread was turning into a W&P, someone could say "Let's take this to W&P" just like you'd say "Let's take this to Bureacracy."

I'm not saying this as someone who is particularly bothered by W&Ps. I'm just wondering if there might be another approach.

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Well, call it a subtext. It's been around for a long time -- the reason we came up with the named "Boxed Set" was because that was the era of cult (read: fannish) TV shows suddenly getting put out on DVD [...] It's also the reason we always knew there would be thread-drift [...] since media fandom is a flighty thing, and if not polyamorous then definitely serially monogamous.

Thanks for explaining, Nutty. I still don't get it, but that's not your fault. I guess I don't get it, because I think we're inclined to treat most of our shows in a media fannish fashion.

Here's some more thread analysis of Boxed Set, from back when Heroes was still there. It's only one week's worth, during February Sweeps, starting with the first post on Wednesday, February 7, and ending with the last post Tuesday, February 13, 2007.

That's 339 posts (inclusive - that is start counting with post 6336 as #1, and finish counting with 6674 as #339 -- you dig?), during one week of February sweeps.

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15 posts 6336 - 6350: SGA/SG-1

subtotal: 15

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6 posts 6351 - 6356: Star Trek

subtotal: 6

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1 posts 6423: Blood Ties

1 post 6428: Blood Ties

subtotal: 2

________________________________ ________________________________

7 posts 6357 - 6363: BSG

1 post 6446: BSG

1 post 6469: BSG

8 posts 6471 - 6478: BSG

2 posts 6480 - 6481: BSG

5 posts 6486 - 6490: BSG

2 posts 6493 - 6494: BSG

1 post 6497: BSG

2 posts 6512 - 6513: BSG

1 post 6611: BSG

1 post 6615: BSG

2 posts 6665 - 6666: BSG

1 post 6668: BSG

subtotal: 34

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2 posts 6467 - 6468: Fire Serpent

1 post 6470: Fire Serpent

subtotal: 3

________________________________ ________________________________

1 post 6431: Dresden Files

14 posts 6453 - 6466: Dresden Files

3 posts 6483 - 6485: Dresden Files

5 posts 6507 - 6511: Dresden Files

9 posts 6519 - 6527: Dresden Files

2 posts 6530 - 6531: Dresden Files

2 posts 6533 - 6534: Dresden Files

1 post 6570: Dresden Files

1 post 6573: Dresden Files

1 post 6577: Dresden Files

1 post 6584: Dresden Files

1 post 6610: Dresden Files

1 post 6643: Dresden Files

1 post 6645: Dresden Files

2 posts 6670 - 6671: Dresden Files

2 post 6673 - 6674: Dresden Files

subtotal: 47

________________________________ ________________________________

59 posts 6364 - 6422: Supernatural

4 posts 6424 - 6427: Supernatural

2 posts 6429 - 6430: Supernatural

14 posts 6432 - 6445: Supernatural

6 posts 6447 - 6452: Supernatural

1 post 6479: Supernatural

1 post 6482: Supernatural

2 posts 6491 - 6492: Supernatural

2 posts 6495 - 6496: Supernatural

9 posts 6498 - 6506: Supernatural

5 posts 6514 - 6518: Supernatural

1 post 6575: Supernatural

1 post 6604: Supernatural

2 posts 6616 - 6617: Supernatural

3 posts 6619 - 6621: Supernatural

2 posts 6629 - 6630: Supernatural

10 posts 6633 - 6642: Supernatural

1 post 6644: Supernatural

3 posts 6646 - 6648: Supernatural

3 posts 6650 - 6652: Supernatural

1 post 6664: Supernatural

subtotal: 132

________________________________ ________________________________

2 post 6528 - 6529: Heroes

1 post 6532: Heroes

35 posts 6535 - 6569: Heroes

2 post 6571 - 6572: Heroes

1 post 6574: Heroes

1 post 6576: Heroes

6 posts 6578 - 6583: Heroes

19 posts 6585 - 6603: Heroes

5 posts 6605 - 6609: Heroes

3 posts 6612 - 6614: Heroes

1 post 6618: Heroes

7 posts 6622 - 6628: Heroes

2 posts 6631 - 6632: Heroes

1 post 6649: Heroes

11 posts 6653 - 6663: Heroes

1 post 6667: Heroes

post 6669: Heroes

1 post 6672: Heroes

subtotal: 100

________________________________ ________________________________

And yes, of course I'm procrastinating about doing something else I should be doing. Also, my neck hurts and I need a sammich.

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edit

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From a purely selfish viewpoint, I would actually get to take part in discussion if Supernatural had it's own thread.

While the theory of (small) bucket threads and cross-pollination is appealing to me, having Supernatural in Boxed Set is never going to work for me because I can't watch cable shows until they are on DVD.

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I'm considering withdrawing the proposal, because I don't think I considered the issues before proposing it (hello, impulse control issues), but I'd like the conversation to continue a little longer first.

Personally, I think it might be healthier for the board if you let it go to a vote, Amy. It's not like this is the first time it's come up. When it has come up before, there's always been this big jumble of uncomfortable feelings. If you let it go to a vote, we have to shut our mouths and live with the decision for six months, no matter what. That's seldom a bad thing for us, in my opinion.

I still have no clue how I'm going to vote, but scanning through Boxed Set threads give me no reason to think SPN couldn't support it's own thread. It's a postalicious show. Whether we want it to or not, seems to be the more the question. I don't want to suck the fun out of Boxed Set. I know I'm watching SPN to some extent, because of Boxed Set. Of course, I also had to skip something like 2000 posts, to find new Eureka posts (because I'd been avoiding SPN talk while I was catching up). So yeah, I'm still clueless.

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I don't think SPN is enough to sustain its own thread, I like the cross pollination with the other shows, and I think it fits well within Boxed Set.

This.

EATA: I know there are posters (Hi, Drew!) who want separate threads for each show, so they can discuss what they've been able to watch, and not be spoiled or subjected to discussion on shows they haven't watched or won't watch. I can understand that impulse. But realistically, you're looking at eight posts per week in each of those threads, with the same four or five people posting, and never talking to anybody in any of the other threads. That's not a posting board, or a fannish community. I don't feel that experience is what b.org is or ever has been. Maybe that's where we're going, ultimately. But it doesn't sound like a lot of fun, to me.

And I agree with Bev, here.

Every single show with its own thread and waiting for the participation between people who are watching live, those that are timeshifting and then for those waiting for the dvds and time to get through them is not the type of board that *I* want to participate in, necessarily. And it wouldn't feel, to me, like a community either.

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I'm considering withdrawing the proposal, because I don't think I considered the issues before proposing it (hello, impulse control issues), but I'd like the conversation to continue a little longer first.

Personally, I think it might be healthier for the board if you let it go to a vote, Amy. It's not like this is the first time it's come up. When it has come up before, there's always been this big jumble of uncomfortable feelings. If you let it go to a vote, we have to shut our mouths and live with the decision for six months, no matter what. That's seldom a bad thing for us, in my opinion.

My opinion? If Amy feels she wants to withdraw the proposal, she should. It was her proposal.

Anyone else is welcome to propose it after that. Yes, we have this discussion. And it feels like a lot, even.

But I don't want to pressure someone into forcing a vote just because we can. If Amy doesn't want the idea of her proposal to go through, she shouldn't be the one sending it to a vote.

Someone who either wants the thread so they could use it or - what it honestly feels like to me - to get us out of their thread can take it up as soon as this is done.

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2 posts 6467 - 6468: Fire Serpent

1 post 6470: Fire Serpent

subtotal: 3

Guess I shouldn't propose that Fire Serpent thread.

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My opinion? If Amy feels she wants to withdraw the proposal, she should. It was her proposal.

Anyone else is welcome to propose it after that. Yes, we have this discussion. And it feels like a lot, even.

But I don't want to pressure someone into forcing a vote just because we can. If Amy doesn't want the idea of her proposal to go through, she shouldn't be the one sending it to a vote.

I agree with this.

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I have utterly no dog in this hunt, but I find this interesting:

scanning through Boxed Set threads give me no reason to think SPN couldn't support it's own thread.

Isn't [enthusiasm + posting volume] what led to Heroes having its own thread? Also, Smallville?

EATA: I know there are posters (Hi, Drew!) who want separate threads for each show, so they can discuss what they've been able to watch, and not be spoiled or subjected to discussion on shows they haven't watched or won't watch. I can understand that impulse. But realistically, you're looking at eight posts per week in each of those threads,

But what about shows like SPN (and Heroes, and Smallville) that have more than 8 posts per week?

As I said, I have no preference, but I'm reading this discussion with interest, because it's making me wonder how we ever did -- in the past -- decide that a single show was deserving of its own thread.

Also, now I'm enormously curious about Fire Serpent, b/c I'd never heard of it before.

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