I really liked having the network drama thread. I prefer TV talk outside of Natter, where I can find it easily. Although I usually watch at broadcast time, as far as I can tell no one else is in my time zone, so if I try to discuss in Natter, I'm usually too late.

That said, I can really understand this:

If we think Natter and Bitches as the de facto social souls of the board, each new thread is like a horcrux (NERD!) that splits that soul a little more.

This is my antiproliferationista stance in a geeky nutshell.

It was also helpful to see the relative busyness of Natter over time. I think that part of my issue may be based on how busy Natter used to be, rather than how busy it is currently. This means I need to think more about my opinion on the proposed thread.

You know, most places in life, it's hard to change people's minds. I love that, while we tend to have strong opinions here, we tend to listen to each other with open minds and hearts. It's kind of beautiful.

schmoop

Yes on a new thread with no strong opinions about the breakdown of what shows go into it. I agree with Denise's comments (and Kristin's and quester's and and... many others that I'm too busy/lazy to go back look up names), and I'm glad this will go to a vote and not a BS consensus, since the dedicated Natter folks who don't like the idea seem to be the most vocal so far.

I'd rather have TV talk that's able to follow a thought for half an hour than be part of a "TV-baby-politics-car trouble-TV-cat-work discussion-TV" stream of consciousness. I don't understand what's so difficult about looking in another thread for more conversation. It's a chance for *more* conversation, not just streaming data-ticker conversation.

Personally, I'm not convinced that the proposed thread would be able to follow a thought for five minutes, let alone half an hour. There are a lot of shows airing against each other and I think it's going to end up being TV!Natter.

There are a lot of shows airing against each other and I think it's going to end up being TV!Natter.

It didn't before. We didn't discuss every.single.show out there. Not even the Buffistas watch everything--I don't think. There's not a lot of watch-and-posting going on for House, for example, other than big "Oh, you did *not* just punch him!" moments. And the shows don't generate the big analysis that things like SPN do.

I would love a place to really get to talk about FNL. But either way I'll be fine.

We started off talking about a show, dissecting it and analyzing the parts. I miss that, but Buffy's gone, Tim doesn't have a show on yet. So some people watch Heroes or Eureka or SPN or what have you, but there's no Buffy or Angel anymore.

I don't know what my point was with that or if I'd found a point in it. Just something I was thinking about, reading this discussion.

It didn't before. We didn't discuss every.single.show out there. Not even the Buffistas watch everything--I don't think. There's not a lot of watch-and-posting going on for House, for example, other than big "Oh, you did *not* just punch him!" moments. And the shows don't generate the big analysis that things like SPN do.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but how is that different than Natter now? Just with extra cats and baseball and life? The things that make a community for me?

how is that different than Natter now?

The difference is that the few posts about House were not scattered and lost between baseball and cats and life and were left in one place for the next person looking for House to find easily and exclaim over. And those exclamations were not lost between haircuts and babies and vacation plans. A small conversation was held with few distractions, to the pleasure of the participants, which makes it a community for us.

A small conversation was held with few distractions, to the pleasure of the participants, which makes it a community for us.

A community that doesn't include anyone with spoiler issues.

Either way voices are left out of the conversation. Some people have trouble finding and/or carrying on tv conversations in Natter and others can't use the big bucket threads due to spoiler issues. Presumably those numbers will shake out in the vote.

I tried to ask this question in the past and I'm not sure if I was clear. Are those of you who want to recreate the experimental threads wanting a structure than can encompass pretty much any potential show? What is the goal here?

aurelia, I think that's what's happening here. I admit I'm preparing a proposal (or at least a draft proposal for discussion) to create a permanent comedy thread. And I'm trying to come up with something that will accommodate as many levels of spoilerphobia and -philia as possible. (I welcome suggestions but suggest they be made in Bureaucracy at this time.)

The community started out as a fandom (using the term loosely and probably incorrectly) for one TV show. Even though we shouldn't be a purely TV-oriented board, the medium is in its blood.

Because besides concentrating the TV discussion, the experimental threads also contained conversations that (for whatever reason) hadn't happened elsewhere. I hate to keep coming back to The Office, but it's a good example.

I don't know the perfect answer. There probably isn't any way to satisfy everybody.

Why is that structure desirable? Is it to end the tv thread discussion for once and all (aside from individual show threads)? Or are there other reasons?