Again, I say that if it's too much of a burden to skip posts in Press, quick posts on real-life meetings of a subset of Buffistas, Deathmatch notices to another subset of Buffistas, political rally notifications to still another a subset of Buffistas, and etc., that those who find skipping irrelevant-to-them posts onerous should have an Important Notice thread where only News of Pan-Buffista relevance could be posted. That way they wouldn't be obliged to check the Not-Important-to-Me-News thread unless they wanted to keep up with hoi polloi.

Restricting posting of news or notes important to some because others aren't interested in it seems elitist to me.

Sounds (to me) like the majority of people are fine or at least will deal with Press the way it is. Even most of those who have expressed the opinion that some posts in there wouldn't pass their own criteria for Press are still willing to skip and skim, especially given the small volume of posts. That's how I'm reading the majority sentiment -- of those who have weighed in, anyway. In the absence of The One True Litmus Test, I think majority sentiment is the best we can expect and should be enough.

If that's not gonna work, then I'm on Beverly's train, because I'd rather weed through information to find what's relevant than not get it at all.

The last 4 posts pretty much sum up my feelings on the matter.

I'd really like to hear a rationale other than "kinda inconvenient" for why things as they have been (including Deathmatch posts) are an issue. And I'm not seeing any. "Against the nature of the thread" seems to be a big subjective that is never going to get any agreeance.

Restricting posting of news or notes important to some because others aren't interested in it seems elitist to me.

I completely disagree with the notion that thinking people really ought to use their best judgement before posting is elitist. I'm not saying restrict beyond how the thread is already restricted, I'm saying think first, then post. That's no different than how we treat things everywhere on the board. Nothing elitist about it.

Of course, to go totally flamebaity, I'm really anti-political posts in there, period, full stop, end of story, bang. Joss or DX could be running for president, and I'd be uncomfortable with it.

should have an Important Notice thread where only News of Pan-Buffista relevance could be posted.

I'm going to ignore the tone and treat this as a serious suggestion. Because after all, that's exactly what we did make.

I'm sorry about the tone, I did try to make it humorous. I'm frustrated with an attitude I don't seem able to grasp correctly, probably because I don't share it. I'd like to reach an agreement useful to all posters, and least inconvenient to most.

Because after all, that's exactly what we did make.

Thing is, there seems to be disagreement as to what kind of thread we actually did make.

I, for one, thought it was a thread where deathmatch announcements would go. Other people post job openings, peace marches, poetry readings, book signings, barbeques, and recalls.

I'd really like to hear a rationale other than "kinda inconvenient" for why things as they have been (including Deathmatch posts) are an issue. And I'm not seeing any.

You want a rationale for an*opinion*? For my personal preference?

Because I simply don't like and don't prefer certain types of posts in Press, I have to provide a rationale?

My rationale is that I, personally, don't like extraneous unnecessary posts. I'm not asking for a new thread that conforms to my rationale, nor am I asking for a vote on what posts are appropriate for Press.

I was merely expressing an opinion.

The premiere of a random TV show just doesn't cut it, for me.

On March 8th I posted in Press for (I believe) the first time ever. My possibly useless addition to the thread was to let anyone as clueless as myself know that a certain actor was on a certain television special.
No, it most definetly wasn't important to the majority of the board. However, in the recent past I had been clued into certain guest appearances on other certain television shows via Press and had been thankful for the opportunity to catch something I wouldn't have normally seen without the heads up. I just thought I would return the favor to a random Buffista. Passing on a good deed...or whatever.

I'd really like to hear a rationale other than "kinda inconvenient" for why things as they have been (including Deathmatch posts) are an issue.

Well, if you want to know more explicitly why I'm getting into this, you got it.

I feel like it's an obligation for posting at this board to read Press. To be sure, it's a "soft" obligation, distinguishable from "hard" obligations like our policies on civility and spoilers. Nothing is going to happen to you if you decide not to, but most people here do it anyway because it's part of being a Good Citizen Buffista. And because we observe this obligation, we should demand the same from everyone who uses the thread to communicate.

I feel that postings should follow the first rule of the categorical imperative-- "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." In other words, if it would be a bad thing if the rule under which you are posting was followed by every buffista, don't post it.

For example. If every buffista posted about every poetry reading that they had, every graduation, book release, or board funding request, that would be OK.

If every buffista posted every time their neighbor's neice had a poetry reading, every time their favorite show was released on DVD, every time they wanted political action for a pet cause, this would make Press unreadable.

This has nothing to do with teleological concerns. In other words, "no harm, no foul" has no persuasive power to me on this. I feel like it's disrespectful to the community and the purpose of the thread to post something you think could not be adopted as a rule by every Buffista on every occasion without destroying Press.

It's taking advantage of the extremely low volume and the extremely high eyeball factor. It's taking advantage of everyone else's discretion in posting and conscientiousness in reading. And in deontological terms, that is unethical.

This is not, though, directed at any specific post or type of post. I have no position, say, on the DM issue. It's an individual decision whether or not you think you're posting or reading something that everyone should be able to post. The bug up my ass is directed at the "well, that didn't hurt in this specific instance, so it's OK" line of thought that really seems to take advantage of everyone's magnanimity w/r/t/ Press. People should be able to count on reading something that they themselves would either feel comfortable posting or at least could see how someone else could.