A question for ita and/or anyone else involved with the tech side of the board: What are the tech consequences of thread proliferation? I intend that as a serious question because I don't know enough tech to have a clue. (And I suspect this has been explained before, and likely even because I asked -- apologies for poor memory.)

(Also, Sean and anyone else whose temperature got raised yesterday -- If I said anything yesterday that contributed to the problem, my apologies. My sole intention was to figure out the nature of the issue and possible resolutions that could satisfy everyone.)

I'm pretty sure the kind of conversation we're thinking of wouldn't work in a general thread like Natter or Bitches (especially Bitches)

Eh, people talk about that damn baseball crap anywhere. Including Bitches.

And baseball conversation? Pretty similar to gaming talk, only less interesting to me personally, on account of me having a fondness for gaming and an utter lack of one for baseball.

Oh, that's right, the spoiler thing is an issue too. I guess my position here would be that unlike the various media we follow here, games don't actually generate spoilers themselves, so I don't think it'd be appropriate for a games thread to open any potentially spoilerphobic users to the risk of spoilage in other stuff. Which doesn't negate my comfort with ita's suggestion, but may suggest against certain threads as being suitable places for experimentation.

Eh, people talk about that damn baseball crap anywhere. Including Bitches.

It doesn't feel the same to me, largely because (pro) baseball is something we watch, or at least Hec watches, and gaming is something we do and to some extent create. Closer, possibly, to Hec posting about Emmett's baseball than to posting about the A's, or whomever they are. Though I think the board as a whole is more interested in Emmett's baseballing than they are in my gaming, and would feel a lot more out of place to continue a discussion of, say, an RPG setting someone's working on after someone else has posted about (e.g.) a serious medical or workplace situation.

Of course, I could be wrong. But I do think ita's suggestion would need to be implemented in a low-volume thread to work out.

I am so weary of this discussion.

ND and Bev, forgive me if this comes across as snarky, because I don't mean it that way: if this discussion, and the same old the arguments coming up, makes you weary and makes you sigh, then why are participating? You don't have to participate in something that clearly makes you unhappy.

What we need is a Lightbulbs TiVo.

"Oh, here we go, fast forward....proliferation (boop beep boop boop)...spoilers...(boop beep boop boop)...cross-pollination...(boop beep boop boop)...social structure...(boop beep boop boop)...ah! Voting! Yeah, baby, pass me a beer!"

What we need is a Lightbulbs TiVo.

I second this. Make it so.

List of things to create:

Transporter

Time Machine

Death Ray

Lightbulbs TiVo (see: Time Machine for possible cross-applications)

Cyborg Zombie Ninja Army of Doom

Sandwich Machine

ND and Bev, forgive me if this comes across as snarky, because I don't mean it that way: if this discussion, and the same old the arguments coming up, makes you weary and makes you sigh, then why are participating? You don't have to participate in something that clearly makes you unhappy.

Not Drew or Bev, but...

Because we don't think the threads we ask for are unreasonable, and we keep hoping that each time it won't be such a chore.

Let me ask you (and Nutty, and bon, and whoever else) a question: Why do you have to fight so vehemently every time? Why not just vote against it?

I know a lot of the anti-proliferationistas like to take the moral high ground, and claim "relentless logic" and accuse us (possibly even just me) of being overly emotional (which I probably am).

But you know, just the act of coming in here to be combative is a very provocative act, and that's never acknowledged. The anti-proliferationistas come in here and force us to fight tooth and nail to get a thread created, and yet we're supposed to take that with a smile or something.

That doesn't feel so good. Especially when it comes from people we otherwise consider friends. Actually it feels really crappy.

But we still don't think a gaming thread (or whatever) is too much to ask, when anywhere else this wouldn't be a problem.

Again, I do NOT want this board to become everywhere else.

I, at least, am not asking for at-will individual user thread creation. I'm not even asking for our process to change.

I'm just asking that, maybe even just once, we go through this process without a fight. Without the anti-proliferationistas coming in here and telling us how much we suck for even asking for a new thread.

Ever so grateful, MM.

Taken in the spirit, Tep, no worries.

I wasn't addressing the subject of this discussion so much as the fact that we re-visit the process every few months. I'm always tempted to just slump on the couch, drink my beer, eat my pork rinds, and blow the whole thing off, but I'm a part of this board, and it's something of a duty, if I have an opinion, to express it.

It always comes down to "I want to talk about left-handed widgets with the handful of people who're interested in left-handed widgets. The right-handed widgets people can make their own thread (let 'em get their own corpse, for those who were there)" vs. "Can't you find an eddy in a current stream to talk about this?" or even, "Dudes, share with the class."

I'm oversimplifying, and that's a disservice. Also, I've expressed my opinion, and will vote when it comes time. Y'all carry on. I'll just be over here on the couch with the remote and the Mountain Dew.

Without the anti-proliferationistas coming in here and telling us how much we suck for even asking for a new thread.

Sean, I really don't believe anyone here is saying you, or anyone else who wants a gaming thread (or a cooking thread, or a knitting thread, or whatever) SUCKS. Really, really not.

I think anti-proliferationism and "relentless logic" are coincidental. Also, I swear I am not a Vulcan. Just because I do not think that drama is a legitimate tactic in argumentation, that does not mean I have green blood.

Let me ask you (and Nutty, and bon, and whoever else) a question: Why do you have to fight so vehemently every time? Why not just vote against it?

Well, but ask yourself the same question. Why do you argue for it? Because you like to feel like you've had your say, and been heard, and if the will of the electorate is to tell you to go get stuffed this time, that doesn't mean it's true for all time. Why does Dennis Kucinich run for president?

If you're seriously asking people who disagree with you, "Why do you have to talk about the fact that we disagree?" then I think you might want to recall that these are the Buffistas. And then go get yourself a muffalletta.

If you're seriously under the impression that people who disagree with you are forcing you to fight tooth and nail, then I think you are being dramatic again, and that... well, to my swear-I'm-not-Vulcan eye, that feels icky and bothersome, like somebody saying, "My feelings are more important than yours because they are louder."

We all have feelings, and many of them are strong where new thread creation is involved. This is not news; this need not be controversial; this need not be angry or mean.