I only knew to watch Leverage because of the discussion in Cable Drama. And I'm grateful for it.

The only time I have ever caught up in Natter has been holidays or the start of a thread. If the discussion of a show was there, I would never see it. I'm good with that if I am the minority experience, but from Consuela's post, maybe I am not.

Natter, for me, has been Buffistas' daily experiences, or what is happening in lives, or a place to gather when something significant happens (Inauguration W&P). Even with my non day to day participation, I get benefit from Natter in that way.

For me it has been a good experience to have the separate threads to go when I wanted to see or discuss something about television specifically. I also like Boxed Set as a big sff bucket because I get my cross pollination of show discussion but if something is going on with me personally I can still run over to Natter and say, "hey guys look at this cool thing" without taking away from the show discussions. I understand it is going to be a different experience for others...so just putting a voice out there. Now I have to go to work, so I wont be able to see the discussion until this evening. Whoever invented work sucks!

what Austin said.

Of the non-Box Set threads listed, the only one I participate in is Comedy, because it fits my interests the most.

That said... I'm comfortable with the level of usage that megan posted, since it's clear that they are being used and if people want discussion, they know where to go.

yes, I'm likely to agree with Austin. I cannot keep up with Natter and it wasn't until the genre threads were created that I felt I could participate with any regularity in discussing tv with the peeps here.

Bottom line for me: I'm not particularly supportive of any proposal that would have things go back to where they were. I loved the Leverage discussions in Procedurals, for instance.

(PS, le nubian, I really enjoy and appreciate your participation in the threads where we intersect!)

Again, I'm coming at this from the angle that I don't really want to be in Boxed Set on a regular basis and see what pops up there. I'd rather the default be Natter.

I'm with Austin. A hardly ever go into Natter - my main community thread is Bitches, and always has, and it's tricky enough keeping on top of that without trying to keep up with Natter too. It's great that you use Natter like that, and, sure, any subject can crop up there, but since TV-discussion EXPLICITLY isn't the purpose of that thread, I don't think it's fair to try to make it the default for such discussions.

Based on that, I would be inclined to close all of them. Although I could see an argument for keeping procedurals since it’s theme-based, and the case-of-the-week structure might mean a different tolerance for spoilers, as with the reality thread.

But...why? Is there a pressing need to cut back on the number of threads we have? Because the current arrangement works for me - I mean, okay, I don't really read the Comedy thread, but I read the others, and I know where to go to read about the shows I want to read about. It seems to work well.

I feel very defensive about the idea of repurposing Boxed Set. It seems pretty damn clear to me that it's for (slash-friendly) Genre Shows past and present. Frankly, I still miss the threads that got squished together to form Boxed Set, and I feel like that community is in danger of being further marginalised by your suggestion. Although I may be misunderstanding.

If we need to have a discussion about what constitutes Genre, then I guess we could do that, but I don't see it as needful, personally - I'm with ita on thinking that Genre includes Time Travel (and ghosts, and magical realism), and that it's pretty self-explanatory.

I loved the Leverage discussions in Procedurals, for instance.

Cable Drama, you mean, surely.

since TV-discussion EXPLICITLY isn't the purpose of that thread, I don't think it's fair to try to make it the default for such discussions

Instructions on how to use Natter for TV are in the header, so I don't see why you think it's explicitly not for TV--it's explicitly where TV without another homes is recommended for.

it's for (slash-friendly) Genre Shows past and present

?? And what about unslashy Genre shows--do we just not talk about them, since Natter is EXPLICITLY not for TV?

Boxed Set is for ALL genre shows, and is slash-friendly. That's so not the same thing, and I'm surprised at the conflation and narrowing of the scope still happening--it has been talked about as the default sff thread since during the squish discussion.

I enjoy me some slash, but our world is bigger than that.

ita, since you've made the changes to the board, where are we in regard to space issues and quantities of threads? I know that's been a question in the past when we've had these discussions, so we might as well get it out of the way now.

For myself, as a Tivo kid, I like having TV more spread out, because then I know where I can go to talk about shows I have watched, and where to avoid for shows I haven't yet. I'm also a Big Thread slacker, so...

Here's how most of the bucket threads got created:

Open temporary, TV-focused threads, so we can see if other shows inspire good discussion, in an environment somewhat more categorized and TV-focused than is Natter. They will only accommodate discussion of those shows which do not already have a TV thread home at Buffistas.org. These are not pilots for new threads; they're just space to experiment, so they are offered as a package deal. They are temporary and will be closed on June 1, 2007. White fonted TV talk will still be allowed in Natter.

When it's all over, if we choose, we can have a somewhat better-than-hypothetical conversation in Bureaucracy about how/if/whether we should try to accommodate a wider range of TV discussion, outside of Natter, and if that's even possible to do, in a way which respects and enhances our community.

Network Drama: for discussion of dramatic programming on those networks generally available, even to those viewers who do not have cable TV -- ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX, NBC, and PBS.

Cable Drama: for discussion of dramatic programming on cable TV outlets which are not currently covered in our Premium Cable thread. (Drama is split between Network and Cable for the duration of this experiment, because an all-inclusive drama thread might be too big, and not conducive for sustained discussion, and because people's viewing habits differ).

Comedy: for discussion of scripted, fictional shows (think The Office, Scrubs, HIMYM etc.).

Non-Fiction TV: for discussion of non-scripted (a.k.a. 'reality shows') programming, documentaries, and the like.