Buffy Boards R us!

[Frenchy Faith]

elmo agrees: I see what you're saying there. Does that mean that, when the community gets so big, smaller groups must form to keep a sense of group identity?

Not at all... the group identity is still there, no matter how big the group, because it's defined by our common interest, BtVS... what I meant was that it's easier to get to know people on a one to one basis in smaller group. The small group enable us to go beyond the community and to get to know each other, outside of our common interest.

 

[TabulaRasa]

I think large group or small, there are always going to be certain people in those groups that are attracted to other 'certain' people. I don't mean attracted as in date I mean attracted as in, they enjoy their posts and and find their ideas are similar. I have about 12 friends from BB in my personal life and it's because those people and I share something more than some of the other BB-ers. No matter how large the group gets there will be that small handful of people I indentify with.

 

[GATEGOD]

In the time that I've been on the boards it has changed considerably. They have expanded to include many other sections designed for discussion of other Whedonverse shows. I do think that it's important to have a specific theme on a forum and, although the boards are expanding, becoming a more general discussion board might not be healthy for the community as it's harder for members to find things that they might have in common. What do you all think about that?

All I'm saying Is One New Forum entitled Other Television Shows
I can think of so many shows I'd love to discuss on the forums.
Stargate, Roswell, Heroes, House, Andromeda, Tru Calling, Las Vegas, Jag, Star Trek, and more ^.^
All I'm saying is it would be fun to talk about more things on the forum and it would keep more people here.
Plus I'd love it, so I'm not seeing a down side of just one forum called Other Television Shows.

^_^

 

[Wiccaness]

For me this is a BTVS and Angel board. Where people talk about that. Buffy and Angel. For anything else off topic, including other shows, you go to Social Studies, or a board that is for that show, i agree with Elmo in which some other thing might actually break apart this community. Personally i love Tru calling, house and Heros....but those are something else, if theres something i really feel like is worth sharing with you guys, like i said, Social Studies is right there. People dont come here for other shows they come here for Angel and Buffy, possibly time to time, some other Whedon related show.

 

[GATEGOD]

So why can't we also have one tiny forum devoted to other t.v. shows?
Do you think Buffy/Angel fans are so petty we would really break apart if there were other t.v shows being discussed.
People watch more then just Buffy/Angel. I'm sure they don't want to spread themselves across 15 forums to discuss each of them.
Just having a full on Buffy/Angel board like this is great. But also having a tiny outlet for other shows will only broaden the boards.
That's a GREAT thing, People who don't want to talk about other shows don't have to, people who do can.
Right now there are 26 forums some odd sub forums numbering probably up to 50. At least 45 are Buffy related.
Why can't we have one sub forum to discuss OTHER T.V. SHOWS. Please :cry:

 

[Wiccaness]

You can do that in Social Studies thats the sub forem. It probably wont break the fans a whole great lot, but seriously like i said the people come here for Buffy....if the mods decide to listen to you and put up another place for tv shows that fall under other, fine thats cool, you'll probably see me in there...but i wouldnt vote for them putting one up. Thats just my opinion.

 

[anyatara]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? I loved the show, and wanted to talk with others about it.
2 - What made you stay? The people here are awesome and I have fun giving my views on things =]
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? Not really =]

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Yeah, no great friends as of yet, but everyone is super friendly
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? Similiar, in the way people act, I guess.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? More, because it's easier to be yourself online.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? Active and friendly people.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? People online are nicer, because they're not trying to 'impress their friends/social groups'
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? If people tried to show off and insulted people, causing a loss of activity.

 

[eponinethen]

elmo agrees: Thanks hunny... 🙂 You say that the family/community feeling has disappeared for you? Do you think you could explain why? It's interesting that you would say that when so many people are saying the opposite.

I have been trying to figure this out. I think many "older" members feel the same though? Don't you? I guess that's what happens.. like most of the people I talked to when I first got here don't post anymore? Probably has a lot to do with me, I don't take the time to get to know the new members [who are probably awesome etc. though]. I personally felt like it was easier to get into BB back then though, I don't know if there were fewer active members back then or if it's cause I was online on the boards like for hours every day, haha..
Have the boards gotten bigger? If they have I'd say that's it... heh.

 

[GATEGOD]

So why can't we also have one tiny forum devoted to other t.v. shows?
Do you think Buffy/Angel fans are so petty we would really break apart if there were other t.v shows being discussed.
People watch more then just Buffy/Angel. I'm sure they don't want to spread themselves across 15 forums to discuss each of them.
Just having a full on Buffy/Angel board like this is great. But also having a tiny outlet for other shows will only broaden the boards.
That's a GREAT thing, People who don't want to talk about other shows don't have to, people who do can.
Right now there are 26 forums some odd sub forums numbering probably up to 50. At least 45 are Buffy related.
Why can't we have one sub forum to discuss OTHER T.V. SHOWS. Please :cry:

Wiccaness agrees: Sorry but i think its ok like it is.
DarklyDreamingDrusilla agrees: There is another forum called after-darkness.com that a lot of Buffy-Board members go to that is about all types of sci-fi shows you should check it out.
StuckinTraffic agrees: That's what after-darkness.com is for....

But After-darkness is another forum, which looks pretty dead to me... I don't want to join a dead forum.
I want to stay here lol At the moment I think I'm part of 6 active forums : erm :
This idea isn't going to harm anyone, it isn't going to take anything away from the Buffy experience.
It would just add on to the already great features the forum has.

 

[elmo]

Thanks everyone, for participating. I'm still very interested to read any other entries. Please feel free to comment further.

GATEGOD: I'm not sure this thread is the right place to put forward suggestions for changes on the boards but thankyou for your contribution to the discussion. Afterdarkness.com is run by the same people who run this forum. And many of the members there are from BB, as far as I know. If you find that it's dead (I'm not up-to-date on that) then perhaps that could answer your question? I'm not saying that your suggestion would be harmful to the boards in any way. Maybe it would be beneficial... who knows? However, we must consider that people do come here for Buffy/Angel related discussion. Over the years there have been many forums/sub-forums added to the boards related to T.V. shows starring Buffy cast members, etc. Maybe it would be a good exercise for me to look at where people post more on a daily basis around the boards?

Does anyone else have anything else they would like to say on the matter? So many of you have posted your opinions and I thank you again for taking the time.

A lot of you have mentioned that Buffy is what brings you here and I think that is pretty self-explanatory. Registering on BB seems a sure way to find people who have things in common with you... do you talk more about that one thing in common than other things? I

n light of what epo said, do we find a group of friends when we join and then stick with that group? Does that make BB generations, so to speak?

And, thinking about what Buffy obsessed fan said, do we act nicer online than off? Is it easier to be yourself online?

 

[ILLYRIAN]

BUFFY-BOARD AND YOU
1/ I was at another site, but that began to go the way of other sites, in that the only place Buffy was mentioned was in the fanfic section. I came to this site primarily because of the fanfic, but also because of the people who are willing to debate all things Buffy related.
2/ The reason I stay here is that I write a lot, much of which I can make Buffy related fanfic. I do enjoy the constant questions that are Buffy/ Angel/ Faith related.
3/ In the short time I've been here there han't been any site changes.

BUFFY-BOARDS AND OTHERS
1/ Yes, I do think I have made friends here. I may never see them in person, but that isn't important to me.
2/ I think that on-line friends are similar to off-line friends, both require verbal interaction and both require more than one view that is commonly liked.
3/ As I don't get out much, the on-line community is pretty well all I have. If you don't see the person, then the conversation is only changed due to use of the keyboard not the mouth.
ONLINE COMMUNITIES
1/ On-line communities work best when there is a common thread of interaction, when people can be acceptable of each other even if they have a different viewpoint, and that they are tolerant of the other person.
2/ In real life some people may resort to physical violence if their views are disagreed with, where-as on-line you can simply go to another persons question.
3/ How would it not work ?. Remove the common thread that joins every-one here.

Do we act nicer on-line than off-line ? most of the time. There are people here who will insult you. There are people who will see what they want to see regardless of it not being there, but 99% of the people here are acceptable to the idea that the other persons view is their view. As in real life, if you don't like a person views, then you don't go looking for that person.
So yes we do act nicer on-line as it is easier to walk away/ go to another thread.

 

[Bangelxx]

Yay! I love these type of question thingys!🙂

1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards?- Friends on youtube told me about it and i love Buffy!
2 - What made you stay? making friends, finding out other peoples opinions!
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? Nope, I joined 2 weeks ago! lol

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? well, yeah! Theres poeple i enjoy talking to anyway!
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? They are different because most of my "real life" friends don't even know what BtVS is! but in other ways, Its similar because they're all friendly and fun to talk to!
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? what? more social

I can't think of any good answers for the last set of questions! sorry! lol

 

[The Chosen]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? I found it in an affiliates thing on another VB board. Obviously, Buffy + message board = Happy TC. 😉
2 - What made you stay? The people and the Buffy.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? There have been no changes - except the pager is gone...I miss that thing.

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Yes. Very much so.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? Very similar. You know someone pretty well by their exterior- or their "net vibe"- but once you converse and things you find Buffy isn't your only thing in common. Life is.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? Way more social. It takes away the awkwardness of real life situations.

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? Strong leaders and a common goal to stay active. We all care about this place too much to let the discussion go to waste.
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? Obviously it's cyber so that's a major difference. It's similar because through PMs and regular chatting and stuff you get to know people -- like real life.
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? If no one cared about the community. Or Buffy in general, really.

 

[Wiccaness]

For me this is a BTVS and Angel board. Where people talk about that. Buffy and Angel. For anything else off topic, including other shows, you go to Social Studies, or a board that is for that show, i agree with Elmo in which some other thing might actually break apart this community. Personally i love Tru calling, house and Heros....but those are something else, if theres something i really feel like is worth sharing with you guys, like i said, Social Studies is right there. People dont come here for other shows they come here for Angel and Buffy, possibly time to time, some other Whedon related show.

Comments on this post
GATEGOD disagrees: =(
DarklyDreamingDrusilla agrees: I am there with you Wiccaness I like how it is and I am okay going to other forums because then there are different people to meet. So I agree to keep it how it is. =)
elmo agrees: This is a Whedonverse related board. Mainly Buffy/Angel related... but once you get here and meet other Buffy fans you may want to talk about other things. Do you feel that Social Studies provides that for you?

I think it does, i mean it says it right in the description, For off topic discussion. If i feel like i really want to share it with you guys i'll post it there, there doesnt have to be a different sections for different types of off topic discussions. There arent that many posts there. I think its doing a fine job as it is, it gives us a place to post that stuff. So yeah.

 

[Jules]

Ok, I'll have ago. It's been years since I joined, but I'll answer as best I can 🙂


Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? As far as I can remember I was doing a search on google about Buffy and this site came up. It was the first board I'd seen and I joined straight away. I loved the show and had lots of opinions on the topic but no one to share them with.
2 - What made you stay? There was so much to talk about and people actually replied to comments made, plus after a while you start getting to know certain members and before you know it you have friends on the boards.
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? When I first joined there were just forums for Buffy and Angel, no other shows. There were no Houses for members to join. There's probably loads more but there the two I remember 🙂

Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? Definitely. I've never met up with any people off the boards. It's something I'd love to do though.
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? Other than my ''real life'' friends being here in the flesh I would say its pretty much the same.
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? I'd say more social. Taking the place were I live, I'd say no more than a ''Helloe'' to my neighbors in passing. Here you speak to everyone in a general way, even if you don't actually comment on peoples posts. I think its a lot more friendly.

 

[Nix]

Buffy Boards and You
1 - What brought you to Buffy-Boards? a friend
2 - What made you stay? new friends that were crazy about the same stuff as me
3 - Has the place changed since you joined? If so, in what ways has it changed? the only big change is new episodes are not aired anymore so most of chats are set in the past but still great
Buffy Boards and others
1 - Would you say you've made friends here on the boards? i'd like tot thinkg so
2 - Are those relationships similar to or different from "real life" relationships? In what ways? not really different - some mates are rl mates now and have been for over 5 years
3 - Is an online community more or less social than an offline one? Why? more social i think cause you have a tendancy to be more honest i think online cause its not face to face so its easier and there are so many more people to be friends with eg different countries

Online communities
1 - What, in your opinion, makes an online community work? a good stable admin team and something in common with others
2 - What makes it similar to or different from a physical community? because you are all human at the end of that internet connection
3 - Under what circumstances would it not work? a bad admin team fighting and not being honest - if you get one person on an admin team that is poisonous it can be very distructive and you need postive strong good natured people around to pick up the pieces and sort everything out. admin teams keep comunities together and protect people.