Are we finally running out of things to discuss?
- Thread starter The Arcane
- Start date
The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
I think you may be surprised just how much has been discussed here over the years, AlyB. We have had a lot of discussions about pretty much every major aspect of the Buffyverse. That said, if there is anything you want to talk about then start a thread up in the appropriate section of the board and I'll be glad to get involved. I'm like you in that all my "real world" friends have very different taste in television to me. I can chat about rock music and football with them but I depend on my online friends around here for a decent Buffy chat. 🙂
To be honest I avoid the non-canon Buffy books, for the most part. Not because I don't think they are very good (although some I have read have been awful). More that I prefer to stick to the facts of a given fiction, if you know what I mean. It's the same with any show I watch. If it's not canon then I don't bother with it.
The Slayage article idea is good though. If you have any articles in mind then why not start up a thread and get the topic going?
Edmund Blackadder
Scooby
As someone who generally has an opinion on everything and has recently stopped posting as much, I can tell you Arcane, I've had the same thoughts.
I've said to myself at times 'its the time of year' BUT its been this way since before the summer. Members are logging in but not really discussing.
I, too, have tried to bring forth more conversational pieces, but it gets to a point where if others can't be bothered to at the very least join in, then why don't I do something else.
Prime example. We have a section here dedicated to Stars of the Show and what they are doing. Gina Torres, who is a well known face of the Whedon World, started a new show called 'Standoff'. I began a thread in her section and no one has made a comment. I'm not suggesting that people should go out to watch it if they don't fancy it, but with the ferocity some of the fans are in following actors, writers, producers and directors of the Whedon shows, it'd be a little odd that no one had seen it.
Frankly it does seem like the bigger posters amongst us have discussed the larger scope of topics(I can't count the amount of times N4H or KD or OM3 have started a reply in a thread with 'Aaaahhh not this topic again') to their full.
The poster who seems to do the most posting at the moment is SlayerPower with the updates on anything even MILDLY Whedon related, and even those topics aren't discussed much.
By now those of us who have strong opinions on anything related to these shows have those opinions pretty much set in stone. If N4H or yourself Arcane, along with the likes of Wicked and Dzhugash can't change someones opinion then no one can, and when we reach that point is there really a need to continue any discussion?
I'm not saying that the site should close because it still peaks my attention, and I do like to read some of the older BUT I have to wonder, am I all talked out about these topics, and I kinda think I am.
I join in the games as much as the next guy or gal(if the next person plays them) BUT if my only reason to come to this site is to Rate someones UT or Sig then thats the day i'm going to leave.
Ohhh and as for the Debates thing, heck I had the similar Idea AGES ago and posted it in the Discussion Groups thread, no one liked it enough to comment on it then, but now a Mod suggests it and that it could earn points for the Houses, its a great Idea...LOL
I've said to myself at times 'its the time of year' BUT its been this way since before the summer. Members are logging in but not really discussing.
I, too, have tried to bring forth more conversational pieces, but it gets to a point where if others can't be bothered to at the very least join in, then why don't I do something else.
Prime example. We have a section here dedicated to Stars of the Show and what they are doing. Gina Torres, who is a well known face of the Whedon World, started a new show called 'Standoff'. I began a thread in her section and no one has made a comment. I'm not suggesting that people should go out to watch it if they don't fancy it, but with the ferocity some of the fans are in following actors, writers, producers and directors of the Whedon shows, it'd be a little odd that no one had seen it.
Frankly it does seem like the bigger posters amongst us have discussed the larger scope of topics(I can't count the amount of times N4H or KD or OM3 have started a reply in a thread with 'Aaaahhh not this topic again') to their full.
The poster who seems to do the most posting at the moment is SlayerPower with the updates on anything even MILDLY Whedon related, and even those topics aren't discussed much.
By now those of us who have strong opinions on anything related to these shows have those opinions pretty much set in stone. If N4H or yourself Arcane, along with the likes of Wicked and Dzhugash can't change someones opinion then no one can, and when we reach that point is there really a need to continue any discussion?
I'm not saying that the site should close because it still peaks my attention, and I do like to read some of the older BUT I have to wonder, am I all talked out about these topics, and I kinda think I am.
I join in the games as much as the next guy or gal(if the next person plays them) BUT if my only reason to come to this site is to Rate someones UT or Sig then thats the day i'm going to leave.
Ohhh and as for the Debates thing, heck I had the similar Idea AGES ago and posted it in the Discussion Groups thread, no one liked it enough to comment on it then, but now a Mod suggests it and that it could earn points for the Houses, its a great Idea...LOL
The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
I know exactly where you are coming from, BotD.
See, the thing is that we can't expect to still have endless things to discuss about Buffy, Angel or Firefly, simply because there has been no new material now for well over two years, other than Serenity. It should come as a surprise to nobody that we aren't still going to want to be talking about the same old things over and over again.
That said, I do believe that there is still new areas to be discussed regarding the shows. Mostly the ideas I've come up with lately are speculative ones. Ideas that, whilst unproveable, at least fit in with what we do know happened. I do think that there are things that we can find to talk about regarding the shows, fresh angles to approach, but there has to be the desire to do so. I'm just a little worried that many are losing that desire to look for those new discussions.
It's inevitable that the intense passion we felt for the Buffyverse is going to go away, or at least lessen, without new stories to watch and enjoy, but I always believed that the Buffyverse would maintain a strong fandom no matter how long we waited for new material. Trek managed to go decades without anything new and still held it's fans. Surely Buffy and Angel have that kind of dedication too. For me, they are far superior to anything that Trek ever produced.
What I think is needed around here is new blood with the desire to be right. If there is one thing that myself, Wicked, Dzhug, N4H and BotD (not to mention a good number of other BB members) have in common it's that we all love our own opinions and hate being proven wrong, hehe. 😀 The thing is though that BotD is correct. We all know each other too well now and know that we are fighting a losing battle in trying to change each others minds.
So do we need new material or just new members as stubborn as some of us regulars? 😉
See, the thing is that we can't expect to still have endless things to discuss about Buffy, Angel or Firefly, simply because there has been no new material now for well over two years, other than Serenity. It should come as a surprise to nobody that we aren't still going to want to be talking about the same old things over and over again.
That said, I do believe that there is still new areas to be discussed regarding the shows. Mostly the ideas I've come up with lately are speculative ones. Ideas that, whilst unproveable, at least fit in with what we do know happened. I do think that there are things that we can find to talk about regarding the shows, fresh angles to approach, but there has to be the desire to do so. I'm just a little worried that many are losing that desire to look for those new discussions.
It's inevitable that the intense passion we felt for the Buffyverse is going to go away, or at least lessen, without new stories to watch and enjoy, but I always believed that the Buffyverse would maintain a strong fandom no matter how long we waited for new material. Trek managed to go decades without anything new and still held it's fans. Surely Buffy and Angel have that kind of dedication too. For me, they are far superior to anything that Trek ever produced.
What I think is needed around here is new blood with the desire to be right. If there is one thing that myself, Wicked, Dzhug, N4H and BotD (not to mention a good number of other BB members) have in common it's that we all love our own opinions and hate being proven wrong, hehe. 😀 The thing is though that BotD is correct. We all know each other too well now and know that we are fighting a losing battle in trying to change each others minds.
So do we need new material or just new members as stubborn as some of us regulars? 😉
Edmund Blackadder
Scooby
I don't think our love for the shows are waning, its the level of discussion.
I'm pretty sure that after Star Trek had finished for the first time, if the Internet was as freely available as it is now it would too have stopped being talked about. Not because fan loyalty had gone, or indeed that people had lost interest in the show, but because they had come to a point of getting bored with the repetition of the same arguments.
If you sat in a group of say 10 people for one year. You have one main topic of conversation. In that year you will explore every part of each others opinions and either accepted or rejected them.
The next year your group adds 2 new people. They have opinions too, however they are opinions that the original group discussed in depth already, BUT out of your love for the show and courtesy to the new people, you discuss again. This time you don't go into as much detail however, simply because you just feel like a parrot.
Year three comes around and 2 more people join you. They have opinions too, only now you're bored of saying the same thing so you let others make their case.
That is what we have here, I believe. People still love the shows, but don't feel like repeating themselves, so allow others to make their points. When no one does(as they too think the same) that thread goes unanswered and forgotten.
I'm pretty sure that after Star Trek had finished for the first time, if the Internet was as freely available as it is now it would too have stopped being talked about. Not because fan loyalty had gone, or indeed that people had lost interest in the show, but because they had come to a point of getting bored with the repetition of the same arguments.
If you sat in a group of say 10 people for one year. You have one main topic of conversation. In that year you will explore every part of each others opinions and either accepted or rejected them.
The next year your group adds 2 new people. They have opinions too, however they are opinions that the original group discussed in depth already, BUT out of your love for the show and courtesy to the new people, you discuss again. This time you don't go into as much detail however, simply because you just feel like a parrot.
Year three comes around and 2 more people join you. They have opinions too, only now you're bored of saying the same thing so you let others make their case.
That is what we have here, I believe. People still love the shows, but don't feel like repeating themselves, so allow others to make their points. When no one does(as they too think the same) that thread goes unanswered and forgotten.
The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
Agreed. So what would you suggest is the answer then?
Is there a way to spice the conversations up again, be that through new members with strong opinions or through finding new areas that have yet to be focused on. Or have we now reached the point where there really is no way to get things back to the way they were and it really is pointless having an entire board for just these three shows and that combining this board with After-Darkness would be the way to go?
By the way, I keep bringing up the idea of combining the BB and After-Darkness as if it's something I actually have a say in and think should happen, hehe. Again, it's just a thought I had to illustrate what I'm saying about whether we still need a whole board for Whedon shows alone. If our own Buffy Summers reads this, I hope she gets what I'm trying to say with the idea and doesn't think I'm actually pushing for it to be done. 😀
E
Edmund Blackadder
Seems kinda ironic that the thread with the most posts in one day is the thread questioning why no one is posting:)
Edmund Blackadder
Scooby
Sadly, the only answer is that we leave.
I don't mean that.
What I mean is that, the bigger questions where only speculation is an answer
doesn't seem to appeal to the newbies. Seems they lack a certain confidence to join into a conversation like that so only the 'lifers' post. This in turn comes back to all of us having our own strong opinions. By the time the conversation has run its course, no one wants to add anything. Its not that they don't have anything to say, that is evidenced by the Karma that we still get, its because you can bet that every possible opinion has been posed by someone.
If we truly want Buffy Boards to become new and vibrant again, we need to somehow put ourselves back on the same level as the newcomers, and in my honest opinion is, we need to wipe away most, if not all discussion threads, strip away huge Karma points, number of postings. Lets be honest, if you are a shy 16 year old and new to a site, would you really question the comments of someone with 2000+ posts, 5000+ Karma would you really go into a strong debate and question their comments, not if you didn't have confidence in what you was saying.
So, thats my idea. Strip away post numbers, older topics, Karma points and begin again.
No-one start replies with 'Gah, not this one again' and see if that works.
No one truly needs Karma or Post Numbers, and without them we don't seem so intimidating.
T
The Arcane
Hehe, trust me, the irony has not been lost on me! :D
ok, if we're gonna kick of the true meaning of BB again, then we're going to need topics to discuss. it's all well and good saying that you want to get back to the reason we're all here (our love of these shows) but we actually need things to discuss?
like, how long was Caleb in legue with The First before they arrived in Sunnydale?
who was the Slayer before Buffy? (has that even been talked about?)
where did Anya go when she took off at the end of S3?
what did Buffy see when she was 'in Heaven'?
feel free to come up with something you REALLY want to discuss...someone must have something that they've been worried about bringing up.
ok, scratch that...Al has a point.
like, how long was Caleb in legue with The First before they arrived in Sunnydale?
who was the Slayer before Buffy? (has that even been talked about?)
where did Anya go when she took off at the end of S3?
what did Buffy see when she was 'in Heaven'?
feel free to come up with something you REALLY want to discuss...someone must have something that they've been worried about bringing up.
ok, scratch that...Al has a point.
E
Edmund Blackadder
Marry Me:)
The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
Hmmm, the Joe Quesada approach. Very interesting! 😉
Joe (EiC of Marvel Comics, for the non-comic readers around here) believes that many potential new readers are put off from picking up a title with a high issue number because they believe that they won't be able to get into the backstory of a comic that has been running for hundreds of issues already. Hence why Marvel loves to reboot a title with a new number one issue now and again.
Frankly, I think this would be a great idea. Basically wipe the board clean and restore all members to newbies so that everyone was back on a level playing field, discussion wise. The regulars would still know who was who and what was what but the newbies could feel like they had a chance in a topic. Not to mention that all the old opinions would be gone, so that repeating yourself wouldn't be so terrible. Sounds like a very good idea actually.
No, your idea works too, Lyri. Even if we did all start again there would still have to be brand new topics for us oldies to get our teeth into, hehe.
E
Edmund Blackadder
I have my moments......at 2am
Edmund Blackadder
Scooby
Don't get me wrong, I understand that there is a risk with the 'reboot'.
It could feasibly deter people from joining if there wasn't much in the way of 'history', but is it something Buffy Summers would be willing to do?
I have to say, if the board continues as it is, it doesn't seem that Buffy would have much of a site to continue paying for anyway soon, so maybe it doesn need something radical. BUT as you have said, this is just speculation and suggestion on our part, BS will do whatever she feels is right.
I can't express how much gratitude I have for her for creating this site and allowing me to 'rant' on occasion.
It would also allow us big posters to start afresh. Granted there are some topics I don't wish to discuss again, but on the whole, I'd be open to 'repeating' myself IF I didn't have my opinion already on the board.
PLUS there would still be questions, ponderings and speculation that is new to us all.
Also, wouldn't it be great to relaunch BB as Buffy-Boards:Rebooted.
Ohh, or Buffy-Boards:Redux
That would be cool
It could feasibly deter people from joining if there wasn't much in the way of 'history', but is it something Buffy Summers would be willing to do?
I have to say, if the board continues as it is, it doesn't seem that Buffy would have much of a site to continue paying for anyway soon, so maybe it doesn need something radical. BUT as you have said, this is just speculation and suggestion on our part, BS will do whatever she feels is right.
I can't express how much gratitude I have for her for creating this site and allowing me to 'rant' on occasion.
It would also allow us big posters to start afresh. Granted there are some topics I don't wish to discuss again, but on the whole, I'd be open to 'repeating' myself IF I didn't have my opinion already on the board.
PLUS there would still be questions, ponderings and speculation that is new to us all.
Also, wouldn't it be great to relaunch BB as Buffy-Boards:Rebooted.
Ohh, or Buffy-Boards:Redux
That would be cool
zombie.apparatus
everything we had...
That is a good idea.. post count and karma doesnt matter to me.. but it does have its advantages and disadvantages...
+ we havent talked about turnips yet... what about them! jk jk.. there is so much more we can discuss.. let our minds think outside the box 🙂 no serious we are not running out of ideas... with old threads being sent to the cemetery.. and you are looking through them... how can we post if there isnt that option so new members have to make a new thread with the same topic that has already been started.. if you get what i mean unless im totally wrong 😉
+ we havent talked about turnips yet... what about them! jk jk.. there is so much more we can discuss.. let our minds think outside the box 🙂 no serious we are not running out of ideas... with old threads being sent to the cemetery.. and you are looking through them... how can we post if there isnt that option so new members have to make a new thread with the same topic that has already been started.. if you get what i mean unless im totally wrong 😉
I cant believe this is the first Ive noticed this thread. Says a lot for whats happened to this board though. Much as I love it, I tend to just look at certain threads now.
I love Als idea of rebooting. Not necessarily back to the beginning but at least a bit so that its not so intimidating for the new guys.
There are so many people that join this board and then never post. I think thats what we need to fix. Make sure people that join everyday actually have something to post about instead of just signing up and then you never see them again.
Karma and post count dont matter to me at all. Everyone is so generous on this board anyway that even if you did care you'd get it all back pretty quickly anyway.
I tend to saty away from topics Ive argued before (like Al says, I feel like Im just repeating myself) but if we were to act as if its never been discussed before, i wouldnt have a problem. After all Ive been here for almost 2 years now so Im sure Ive forgotten most of the points Ive argued. Who knows, if its a topic we havent discussed in a long time we might find out our opinon has changed (although in some of our cases I doubt that 😛) or we might see things we missed before.
If the new guys got involved, they might see things from angles we hadnt considered while we've been trying to change peoples opinions to our own.
I love Als idea of rebooting. Not necessarily back to the beginning but at least a bit so that its not so intimidating for the new guys.
There are so many people that join this board and then never post. I think thats what we need to fix. Make sure people that join everyday actually have something to post about instead of just signing up and then you never see them again.
Karma and post count dont matter to me at all. Everyone is so generous on this board anyway that even if you did care you'd get it all back pretty quickly anyway.
I tend to saty away from topics Ive argued before (like Al says, I feel like Im just repeating myself) but if we were to act as if its never been discussed before, i wouldnt have a problem. After all Ive been here for almost 2 years now so Im sure Ive forgotten most of the points Ive argued. Who knows, if its a topic we havent discussed in a long time we might find out our opinon has changed (although in some of our cases I doubt that 😛) or we might see things we missed before.
If the new guys got involved, they might see things from angles we hadnt considered while we've been trying to change peoples opinions to our own.
The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
TURNIPS! Genius idea!!! 😀
But I do agree there are probably thousands of topics we could still come up with, given a little thought. In fact I'm working on some ideas already. 😉
Agreed on all points. Reboot or no reboot, the important thing is getting new people to give their opinions. If resetting the board isn't practical (I imagine that it would be a lot of work for Buffy Summers) then we need to find ways to tempt newbies into getting involved.
Everytime I watch Buffy and Angel I come up with millions of questions that havent been discussed (as far as I know) but the problem is because all the new shows are on right now, Im not watching Buffy and Angel much. It probably goes for most other people too.
zombie.apparatus
everything we had...
im with you.. everytime i watch something you always notice something or learn something different.. you always pick up on new things... i learnt this as a film student, you always pick up on new things, i think we are pretty okay for topics...
The Arcane
Scooby
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2005
- Messages
- 1,686
Again, agreeing with you both. So the question is, if we really do have all these new points to discuss about Buffy and Angel then why are we not discussing them? Which brings us back to my original post.
I honestly believe that there is a lot of potential in Buffyverse discussions but the desire has to be there to discuss it, which is where we come back to mixing the topics up with a little new blood. It's sort of a viscious circle.
I'm going to continue trying to come up with new thread ideas, as I've done with a couple of Jasmine topics just recently, but if only the same core group of regulars get involved then it's going to be a case of the same old thing where we all say our bit and the thread end at a couple of pages, tops.
I wonder if it would help to start a thread in the Check In section asking newbies to post what they would like to see happen around here that would get them involved a little more?
zombie.apparatus
everything we had...
Schillaci
Scooby
zombie.apparatus
everything we had...
*SHOUTS ALOUD* omg.. Dzhugashvili has nothing to add... yet he speaks! Im sure Mr. Dzh has plenty of topics he wishes to discuss...:asl:
Well like I said before, being the time of year that it is, there are so many new shows on just now that I watch every week. In fact there is at least one show each night that I watch, so Im watching a lot less of Buffy and Angel just now. Im sure its the same for others. Therefore Im not coming up with topics to discuss at the moment. Its not that I dont want to. If someone else had a topic, Id be happy to put my opinion in there 😀