(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.

I'm with Austin, tiggy, le nubian and Fay. Hardly ever poke my head into Natter. And, like Theo, I think the usage Megan posted for the TV bucket threads is healthy.

ita, cable drama of course! :-)

I can't remember what happened last week, much less where a discussion took place 2 months ago.

I'm in total agreement with ita w/r/t this particular discussion.

On the 21st of June 2007, we voted on an original cable drama thread.

And then on the 26th of August 2008, a vote was had for a Procedurals and a Comedy.

So those two survived a great deal of discussion to get brought into the world, in two rounds.

I didn't see a separate vote for Non-Fiction but I'm sure I missed that, and Network Drama never flew.

Ailleann, we're good on space issues as far as those bucket threads go--they were never going to be a problem because of too much resources used. The question (I think)--are too little resources used?

And lo, we are hit by thread inertia. Unless specifically mentioned in the creation proposal, we as a community get very used to the threads we have, and it will most surely take more justification than I've seen so far to shut them down.