Since I don’t really have a horse in this race, I’ve been reading this discussion a bit like an anthropologist watching video of an unknown culture. I’ve been part of the Buffistas since TT, and while I’ve not always been an active poster, I have always been, at worst, a semi-lurker. The Board has always moved at a pace that was just impossible for me to keep up with because of work and Life stuff. I’d be reading and think of things I’d want to say and by the time I got to the end of the thread, the conversation was over. I’ve been a rabid fan of the John H. Natter Diet for years. Even now, I read that Natter has slowed down due to moving some of the conversation of TV to the Experimentals or other threads. I’ll take y’alls words that that’s true, but I still need the Natter Diet most days.

The reason I started on the board was to discuss Buffy. I was a regular at Salon and stumbled across TT a couple of months after I started watching Buffy. I fell for the show in a way I never had, and TT offered me a place to talk about it with people who are articulate and can spell.

The reason I stayed? The people. The varied conversations. The good grammar. But, mostly, the people. I feel like I know a lot of you and I care about what happens in your lives. I cried the day Consuela had to put her dog to sleep and the day tommyrot had to say goodbye to his beloved Senor Sock. I sobbed when Beverly lost her son. I’m not a parent and can’t understand the pain she experienced, but I knew she hurt. I fretted over our NYCistas on 9/11. I rejoiced when our babies were born. And, yes, I mean OUR babies. I laughed over “it looked like a tooth” and gasped every time Owen took a dash. I smiled over Allyson taking in ita and the Bayistas caring for juliana during their life moves. I celebrated raises, promotions, new jobs, birthdays, and anniversaries. You all are my people.

That being said, I think B.org is a tough culture to break in to. Even though I’ve been around for a long time, and I feel like I know y’all and care about y’all, I still feel like I’m the second cousin at a family reunion who belongs but not really. Maybe that’s because I don’t have time to contribute with the frequency others do. I’m not sure why.

The current board culture, to me, seems to have Natter and Bitches at the center with the other threads coming off like spokes on a wheel. Most people participate in Natter and/or Bitches as well as select spokes. BUT, there are still people who don’t really participate in Natter or Bitches, but stay on the spokes of their liking.

This current discussion is, I believe, a lot more about board culture and the movement/possible changes of the board more than the creation of one thread. If I am interpreting correctly, one side (of the multi-sided discussion) is concerned that by creating more threads, the board with splinter and, at worst, will not interact with each other preferring to stay in the specific threads that they choose to participate in.

While I understand that this is a fear for some, I doubt that adding more spokes will take away from Natter and Bitches in a significant way. I have no concrete evidence of this, of course, it’s just my gut feeling which, admittedly, could be wrong. I just think that Buffistas are chatty by nature and while there may be some different places to chat, Natter/Bitches will go on.

Most of the TV threads don’t work for me because of spoiling issues, and while I would like to talk about some TV here, I’m okay with the fact that I don’t. Talking about TV isn’t my main reason for coming here.

People come in and out of b.org. The board changes because people change and our interests change/grow/etc. But, I honestly don’t think the board has changed dramatically since the move from TT to WX. Even the move to B.org from WX didn’t change the culture much. Again, we lost some folks and gained some others, but the basic culture didn’t change. Even when Buffy went off the air (sob!), it didn’t change dramatically because by that time, Natter was the most active (continued...)

( continues...) thread.

Ummm…okay….for a lurker in this thread, I guess I had a lot to say.

I don't have a problem with this if connie agrees with it, but I really don't see why anyone thinks the arguments will be any different in 2 weeks.

I was in the middle of a post when my home router crashed, stupid thing.

I reluctantly agree to a delay until Aug. 11 before picking up on this, but I'm not sure anything substantive is going to be settled either. I won't change my mind about the benefits of having a separate Network Drama thread, and I don't know that anyone who thinks that having bucket threads is a death blow to the ambience of the boards is going to change their minds.

I like this idea (I did propose it) and I don't think this board is so delicate that having these threads is going to damage things irretrievably. So I'm not going to let it go.

Someone asked about why I'm here. That's irrelelvant. I love a great many of the people here--the rest of you I don't know well enough to impose strong feelings on yet :)--and as long as those people are here I'll find a way to talk to you.

I don't think the break was so people would change their minds. Just a breather so moods wouldn't be as raw. Anything constructive the decision would bring about will be better if people aren't still stinging about the last similar-but-not-similar vote.

ita said it very well, so I shall just point upwards. Shall we do the poll? Or have an informal agreement to table until Labour Day?

Has there been this much sturm&drang before when threads spin off?

It was really a different situation at Table Talk, because it wasn't solely our board, and there were a million threads. Occasionally some of the TT people looked at us strangely, but some of the threads were even in different folders, I think.

Shall we do the poll? Or have an informal agreement to table until Labour Day?

Well, connie picked a date on her own, and I'm willing to respect that date, though I also understand if I am alone in that.

I think the real thing is to have this Who Are We discussion that seems to have arrived one way or another, but the question then become "how, when and where will we have this discussion."

I think we should all step away from Discussing Things for a bit, just so everybody has a chance to Doblerize. After that, I don't know? Do we discuss here? In B'cracy? Do we create a thread to Discuss Ourselves (seems a little silly, but then where else would it happen?).

Regardless, thank you connie, for agreeing to set this proposal down for a little bit. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision, and I'm sure it's not what you wanted to happen with your proposal, so thank you for making that hard choice.

Definitely, thank you connie.

I think Bureau-blah-blah is defintely the place to have a "where do we go from here" discussion. It's pretty much it's raison d'etre, isn't it?

I think the real thing is to have this Who Are We discussion that seems to have arrived one way or another, but the question then become "how, when and where will we have this discussion."

Yeah, that's actually what I meant by needing a poll taken. A "how do you want to do this thing with the tv watching" poll. To get a more concrete idea of what everyone does want.

Thank you Connie, for agreeing to this, and I think going with the date you picked is right and fitting, at least to me.

I don't think the break was so people would change their minds. Just a breather so moods wouldn't be as raw. Anything constructive the decision would bring about will be better if people aren't still stinging about the last similar-but-not-similar vote.

Like SA, I will just point upwards.