t addressed to amych's head, not her gut

It's much easier for a new person to go ahead and sign up, than do research. And the readers are the ones that suffer if the names are messy.

The suggestion becomes more important when there's a flood of new users, but we haven't even had any name confusion with the cancellation-induced batch.

And who'd have thought that Ro and Rio would be more confusing than amych and amyth? I mean, really. If it turns out your name is confusing, or you just don't like it any more, you can change it. Because our Stompies KICK ASS.

This week, it feels like we're talking about remaking the whole place to suit an army of starfucker newbies who want to use our place to organize a campaign that won't work, and maybe get a VIP sighting in while they're here.

Oh dear. I tripped and fell in the Bronze.

Thing is? Tim comes and goes. We could be without a Joss or a Tim post for months and months when they get busy. Plus, he leaves his email addie, people who want to talk to Tim don't have to pig-pile, they can just write to him, directly. I bet most people don't know that Joss stops in from time to time, anyway.

Mounting impossible campaigns? There isn't another place to discuss/mourn Wonderfalls. We're the host for that. Kristen is also getting inundated with emails and posts at TimMinear.net from upset fans, venting.

I can steer a campaign away from crazy!land.

There is the problem that arises when there's an avalanche of newbies who create their own subculture that can twist across the grain of the existing culture, and that can suck.

I don't see that happening. I see that people are grateful for the thread, and in general stay in that thread.

I admit having that "this is our Tim and YOU can't play with him!" moment in my head. And then, I laughed at myself, clunked myself on the head with a frying pan, and stopped being Gollum. He's not our preeeeciooousssss.

Sure, some of the posts have been "driveby drama," but that's usually just one post, and gone.

It's a growing pain. I think Buffistas are mature enough to protect our board culture while being hospitable.

It's much easier for a new person to go ahead and sign up, than do research. And the readers are the ones that suffer if the names are messy.

No question. And actually that gets to my other problem with publishing a list: I think it's utterly useless.

People (and I mean people generally speaking) don't check such things first. People don't even the FAQ or the etiquette or the GO READ THIS NOWs first. The ones who lurk first aren't going to be the issue anyway.

I agree that name confusion hasn't been a problem with the current batch; in fact, I don't actually think it's ever been that big a problem, and I'm not so sure we need to do anything about it at all. I do think we're putting a lot of energy into an imagined potential for name confusion because the "how do we deal with all these new people" anxiety is otherwise very hard to pin on anything all that tangible.

(edit: and thanks, Allyson, for the good sense. I really didn't mean to turn this into a discussion of my weirdo anxieties.)

but we haven't even had any name confusion with the cancellation-induced batch.

Well there is one that we will probably have to talk to, but that person hasn't posted yet, and may never.

My problem is that there are so many new posters joining at once that I'm having a hard time keeping them all straight.

Talky meat. Took me forever to catch up:

I think it would make sense if COMM'ed filk went on to the filk page rather than the BRQG. Thoughts?

I would be perfectly happy to a) remove the filk from the BRQG, because it would improve the loading speed, or b) do some kind of funky chicken dance code so visitors could choose to see quotes or filk, or c) some other option.

Er. Open to opinions, I am. Enough coffee, have had not yet.

I think we should check with shrift to see if she's okay with linking to that in our FAQ.

I'd rather not have the script site linked in the FAQ precisely because, as ita said, the FAQ is Googleable, whereas my posts in Press are not.

Also, I have the power to edit my posts in Press, and have done so back on TT and WX after a time to take out the HTML link.

The influx of newbies and official-sites-linking-to-us-oh-god-break-out-the-salad-shooters has also caused me to toss up a new site for the Wonderfalls scripts.

Because I am a little paranoid.

Now I go back to fighting with the frelling DLT vault.

(edit: and thanks, Allyson, for the good sense. I really didn't mean to turn this into a discussion of my weirdo anxieties.)

Well, it's not a weirdo anxiety. Your fears are real, they came to pass in the Bronze when Buffy got REALLY POPULAR.

"Is this the place where Joss posts? I'm a writer and want to send my script!"

"13 F fit r u a QT boi? lol lol"

The first post can be dealt with easily. "Joss posts at the bronzebeta sometimes. He doesn't read other people's scripts, sorry. Get an agent."

Person goes bye bye.

The other? ignore, or go TWoP and clean it off the board so it doesn't attract flies (i like the latter option, actually, we're not a dating service, and those posts attract pedos and morons).

Still, none of that is happening. And it may not.

And if it does, there's not many of us that believe in "Troll Training" anyway to allow a huge disruption in board culture.

It's okay to talk about how we'll protect what we love about Buffistas. Doesn't make us assholes. I'd rather have newbies that love us for all of us, and not just the one of us with the handsome smile and overall deal, too.

Also, with shrift on Salad Shooter.

Yeah. A good salad shooter debate should separate the wheat from the chaff.

Some of this discussion may have come from my proposed wording for the FAQ, which included a suggestion to choose a name that's fairly easy to type and one that would not be easily confused with existing posters. I was just thinking of that as a suggestion to help new people fit in with what I perceive as the existing board culture, not as some edict from on high. We tend to have a more conversational tone and write things like, "What Scrappy said." I was finding it kind of awkward to phrase a post in response to "Mxplx*, The Grand High Minister of What Scrappy Said" without cutting and pasting. I recognize that in some cases these may be long-standing noms de Internet, but they just looked odd here. My suggestion about not choosing a name similar to an existing poster was just to ward off potential problems, plus I may have been thinking, "Lurk long enough to see who's here."

I am finding myself a teeny bit grumpy with the flood of new people, which is ironic since I'm part of The Great Firefly Onslaught. I would like to issue a blanket apology to anyone I may have annoyed.