I think we were a strain on Peoplesforum, too.

Though they are huge, I don't think cutting out Natter or Bitches is right. They are where the community happens for the most part.

If we're going to take drastic measures, why not get rid of all the quotable threads? Couldn't the quotes just go in the main threads?

Other madcap suggestions:

COMM, as much as I love it, is just reposting from elsewhere -- if we seriously need to cut down on threads, that's a prime candidate for chopping.

Could the F2F thread be closed until there's planning for the official F2F. Smaller individual F2F could be planned via email on even in Natter.

Close Minearverse until Wonderfalls actually premieres.

Oh, and one more thing, on the Briney, the admins have made the thread lengths pretty small (2,000 for light traffic threads and 5,000 for larger threads) to save on hits to the server. Would that help us any?

the admins have made the thread lengths pretty small (2,000 for light traffic threads and 5,000 for larger threads) to save on hits to the server. Would that help us any?

Nope, not if we keep closed threads in the database.

Nope, not if we keep closed threads in the database.

What if we don't? What if we have 5,000 post threads, and archive them a week after they close?

What if we don't archive at all?

I think archiving closed threads promptly (say, after 1 week) makes a LOT of sense, whatever that's worth.

What if we have 5,000 post threads, and archive them a week after they close?

That would make a difference.

But I'd recommend heartily against changing everything all at once. We'd never know what made a difference, and what was just panic.

We're blessed with the ability to talk with our web hosts. Let's take advantage of this, and tweak, and do this strategically..

From what Kristen is saying, it sounds like the problem is serious. So IMO, it's perfectly legit to discuss our options so, at the least, we'd be ready to go right away if we have to. And, while I may misunderstand the sitch, we need to at least discuss serious measures. And our dreams of having the exact board we want is up against the technical limits.

A lot of the ideas are good and necessary (I've disabled my auto-refresh). But how much good will they do? Enough? It sounds like even the experts don't know. Maybe it isn't knowable until we actually put things into effect.

So I'd suggest that if it proves necessary, and other measures have failed, as a last resort, we ditch Natter, Bitches, and Un-American, to be replaced by a completely new thread, to make it clear that no one thread is swallowing up the others. Call it Cocktail Party, or something like that.

I don't think it's been proved necessary yet, and I hope it will never be necessary. But I'll toss it onto the table as a compromise measure.

(Edit to note that this xposts everything since Teppy's post #4449, and to re-emphasize that I'm not suggesting we do this now. And much as I enjoy COMM, I'd be willing to live without it.)

But I feel like, They Can Pry Bitches From My Cold, Dead Hands,

Yes.

Honestly, if we cut Bitches and Natter, I'd leave the board. Not that the Stompies should make a decision based on me, but this isn't just a board where people talk about some cool show -- it's evolved into a community.

And hell, yes.

This could be a great way of cutting down board use, though, because if Bitches goes or is merged with Natter, I'll be out of here, and I think this could be true of a good few other people. So that could solve things. I'd regret the hell out of it, myself, because I love the place to pieces, but I guess there's always LJ.

(And forgive me, I forget who asked, but, yes, there is a difference between Bitches and Natter. There's an overlap of people and themes and suchlike, but it's two different environments with different atmospheres.)

See, that's why I feel discussing the worst case scenarios (well, near worst) isn't doing as much benefit as it might.

For every "let's ditch Bitches/Natter" or "lets do odd days only", even if said lightly, a hackle somewhere twitches up, a bit, and it gets tenser.

Not usefully tenser, either.

Anyway, enough of what might look like topic nannying.

Possible changes are being tested right now. New people are looking at the code. Changes have been implemented.

And I will lead a fundraising charge myself, to prevent Natter/Bitches being closed. But Allyson and Sean will have to take forks to the neck as a fundraising event.