the state of the forum

[Blarg]

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as for the movie thread, isn't there some value in having the long history so if someone wants to know about a specific film, they can sort of skim around for it, or do enough people employ the search function?

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I'd agree if the movie thread was deeper. But the vast majority of posts there are just a few lines or a paragraph and not really much of a discussion or well-developed. There are some nice posts there, but they're such a minority that the thread doesn't seem to have the character of a place you go to check out what people think about a film. It's more like chat. Mr. Wookie's and Katey's back and forth analyses of So You Think You Can Dance in the t.v. thread put to shame most of what's in the movie thread, and we are fine with chopping that up because it's so ephemeral.

If the movie thread were more thematic(Fish Out of Water Comedies) or deeper(Movies That Make You Feel Like One Smart Feller), or developed an argument(How the Hayes Code Shaped American Ideas About Sex and Marriage), then there's a unity there worth keeping whole. The current long-running movie thread is mostly just heads-ups for cool movies coming out or to rent, movie chat, and some back and forth about some films some of us like.

Anyway, that's my take on it. Not meaning to slight any of the good posts in the movie thread.

[diebitter]

Blarg,

What's your thoughts on having specific threads for categories of movies. I dunno 'Comedy Movies', 'Date Movies', 'Action Movies' etc.

That has some benefits of cohesion and organisation. Maybe a bit nitty though.

[Blarg]

I like the idea. It gives an easy framework for comparison between movies that naturally lends itself to talk and appreciation for a genre or certain techniques of writing, pacing, photography, etc. Just like genre so often makes a good writer better, it could probably focus and enliven both a serious discussion and simple movie chat.

[Sniper]

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Yeah Blarg, we seem to be on the same page. And like in the Beer Club, too, if someone posts their own review of a beer that has been done before, I'll probably want to go back and see what I or anyone else had to say about that beer. I could see the same thing for movies, but I haven't been watching too many or following that thread.

If there are no further objections to it, I'll ask Sniper to post a new Summer TV thread, perhaps with some of his takes on the new summer shows, and then I'll lock the old one.

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I have no intention of starting another TV thread... my position on mod interference in threads is deeply entrenched, and I will not support a move by TLDR mods in that direction.

[MrWookie]

DB, Blarg,

I'm not overly opposed to having separate movie threads for different genres, but I'm concerned about having nothing but the movie genre threads on the front page. This forum is for things other than just movies, and I think that having so many of these perpetual movie threads will drown out other content.

Sniper,

At least tell us why. Is it that you want a mod to do it, or is it that you object vehemently to the idea?

Edit: OK, you did spell it out.

[diebitter]

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DB, Blarg,

I'm not overly opposed to having separate movie threads for different genres, but I'm concerned about having nothing but the movie genre threads on the front page. This forum is for things other than just movies, and I think that having so many of these perpetual movie threads will drown out other content.


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That's my concern too.


I think I prefer each movie to stand alone actually. The only good coherent one that is cool would be something that might be a common experience, like 'Movies you just saw at the cinema' where there's a good chance a few people would have seen the same movie at the same time.

Course, in the UK, I'll not be participating in that except after a BIG lag....

[Sniper]

Wook, edited the above post to add my reasoning. (before I saw your question)

BTW, I agree with DB that the focus should be on generating more new threads; rather than worrying about existing content. (which imo for the most part is fine)

Specifically, if we are looking for something to fix, imo, we should be encouraging and starting more non-entertainment related threads, to help diverify content a bit.

[Sniper]

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We've been increasingly lenient about content in the Lounge since Mat was unsatisfied with its low traffic.

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Wook, when did Mat say this???

[MrWookie]

Just before Katy came on board, and after you were demodded.

[Blarg]

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I don't think there's any reason to think this at all, and every reason to think otherwise.

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Aw Hell, I couldn't read all the rest of the post, it was too long. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Fair enough, Blarg!

I can see both side to the splitting up thing and with the vast majority of posts I would not see it as a great thing either. I guess there are going to be two ways to look at these and I really do not think either is "wrong". It really was originally just an observation where I saw me wanting to participate in some of these threads more but they just got to be too unwieldy for a simpleton like me. [img]/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

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I think a lot of times it's easy to take forums and threads too seriously. I know I can. But I wouldn't let a thread's length put you off. You're really not forced to read the whole thing, especially if it's just the trivial chat stuff. That would be kind of like reading last week's newspaper.

Sometimes I leave a long thread alone for days or weeks until I'm in the mood to read it, too. Sometimes a thread needs to accumulate that kind of momentum before it's worth keeping up on, anyway.