It makes me both sad and happy that Buffistas Like Different Shit, but it's frustrating watching this conversation as a mostly Outsider because I can't help but wonder just how much the people more directly involved in this are aware that there are two very different, mostly incompatible ways of using the board going up against each other.

Personally, as someone who is in Boxed Set and watches SPN? Because I am never going to watch those other shows in the first place otherwise. I watch things when I read interesting discussions about them and people intrigue me.

This is probably how most people feel about this, too, but just in case I'm not the only person who feels differently, I'm going to throw out yet another opposing viewpoint.

When I get overwhelmed with posts about a show, I lose whatever interest I may have had in ever watching it. I've seen two episodes of SPN, one with a bunch of happy people and one on my tv alone. I even bought the 1st season DVDs a while back, but now I have zero interest in ever seeing it again. (I am blaming no one! I'm happy that they're happy.) I'm the same with BSG. I once thought I'd go back and catch up, but after it drowned out discussion of Dresden Files, I'm sick of it. It may have been only a "brief" time that it was overwhelming (four months is brief?), but that brief time covered an entire season of a show I loved, that may not come back, and I'm still kinda pissed that it kept me from talking much about it with my favorite people. If I'm the only one who ever feels this way, okay then, but if I'm not, this is the downside of "cross-pollination".

Conversely, the discussion of (for instance) Dr. Who hasn't overwhelmed me, and I'm still looking forward to watching the whole series. Even though I'm totally spoiled. By the time I get 'round to it I'll have forgotten most of it anyway.

Aw, Laura. I hate you're being made uncomfortable.

As long as we're kind--or at least polite--while we're being honest, and really listen and make sure we understand what's being said, rather than what we think is being said, I think that's all we can do. Somebody's going to have to give up something they want in every negotiation. But it's important--I think, anyway--to figure out if getting what I want impinges too much on what other people want, and how many other people. It's not possible to make everybody happy all the time. All we can do is try to make the most people happy most of the time.

Or something.

Even though I'm totally spoiled. By the time I get 'round to it I'll have forgotten most of it anyway.

Hee. This is why I read all the whitefont. Sometimes having no memory is an advantage.

{{Bev}} Thanks. It sucks that we can't please all the people all the time, but really if we all agreed about everything all the time it would limit discussion, and we wouldn't want that!

I read all the whitefont! Compulsively.

I understand wanting to talk about shows obsessively--hey, I'm here too--but I truly believe that our community is too strong and too vibrant to be splintered by something as simple as subscribing to a few more threads.

I'm running out of here but I wanted to get a chance to address this. Because at the same time we were at WX, there was a forum of TT refugees who created a thread for pretty much every tv show under the sun. And while that place was ideal for separating out every TV discussion you ever wanted to have, for getting your own threads with only a couple posts a day, for nonspoilage...there's a reason that forum never bought their own domain and there isn't a "Will the TT TV People Leave the Lobby."

I watch things when I read interesting discussions about them and people intrigue me.

I (and at least a couple other Buffistas I know) find and watch TV shows in a completely different manner.

I find shows that I like, through various means, and then want to watch and have interesting discussions with Buffistas afterwards.

Especially for the spoiler averse, this is completely at odds with the desire to find and watch shows in this media fandom cross-pollination atmosphere.

And I know (because you've said as much) that the media-fandom types feel like they are no longer wanted or appreciated on the board (which I don't think is true), but the non-cross-pollinationy people are feeling the same way (which is not to say they are on the other side of this debate, in fact, most of them probably don't post in Boxed Set because it doesn't work for them).

Because at the same time we were at WX, there was a forum of TT refugees who created a thread for pretty much every tv show under the sun.

There's still a pretty active TV forum at WX. I don't know if it's the same one you're talking about, but I post there, so does sumi, le nub, ita, and probably some other Buffistas I'm forgetting.

a thread for pretty much every tv show under the sun. And [snip] that place was ideal for separating out every TV discussion you ever wanted to have, for getting your own threads with only a couple posts a day, for nonspoilage.

Thank you, bon. I have wanted to suggest that place as an alternative for people who want to talk about only one show at a time. An added bonus is that there's a larger pool of people there, so you can actually have an interesting discussion that's single-show focused. I honestly don't think that type of single-show focus could ever happen here, with a smaller overall pool of people, on a non-paid-subscription board. I, for one, wouldn't want it to. I like multi-themed discussion. It seems to be the way that Natter, Bitches, Boxed Set, Astounishing, Music, and maybe other threads work, an ebb and flow of conversation, with pockets of deeper discussion. I think we do that well.

FTR, I like Boxed Set. I enjoy reading the discussions and the whitefont, even of shows I don't watch. I just don't think it works so well for shows that generate considerably more posts than others.

Dana, would you mind pointing me at the TV forum at WX? I'd like to drop in.