Should we bring back megathreads?

[Patrick]

Should we bring back megathreads?

My recollection was that we got rid of them with TT3.0 to spur people to create new threads for new topics instead. But, that doesn’t seem to be happening. Should we just bring them back? Let’s talking time about it.

 

[JBear]

The mods seemed pretty set against it before; I doubt that anyone has changed their minds.

 

[Patrick]

Seems like the votes are overwhelmingly in favor of bringing them back. Since people brought it up, I gave it some thought and I have a lot of fond memories of them too. There were fewer new threads, but more conversation overall.

 

[Vaeran]

I'm in favor of it. We already have megathreads in the TV/Film subforum for both TV and movie mini-reviews, and if they've had a negative effect on Talking Time I can't see what it is. What would be the harm?

 

[Kazin]

I'm indifferent, so I guess yes? lol

 

[Olli]

I always found the megathreads inconvenient to follow, as they were kind of like a chat, which only works well if you're in a similar timezone

 

[Adrenaline]

I don't understand the question. Megathreads never went away.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Specifically which megathreads would make a return? We already have a few catch-all threads that never left. Is it just the "Not worth its own thread" game thread?

I'm not against it, I'm just also in the boat of not being exactly sure what we're talking about here.

 

[Falselogic]

I'm not opposed to megathreads. But, I think the issue you are trying to solve with their return won't be helped by their return. This forum is dying.

The audience is split up between two or three different, non-overlapping interfaces and we've been closed for at least three years now I think? There's just not enough people here to sustain conversation on most topics. We don't have any new people and we don't have any way to attract new people.

 

[Kazin]

Could always shut down the tt discord, which is where I think a lot of the activity goes-

...hey! stop hitting me with those sticks! ow! ow!

 

[FelixSH]

I'm not opposed to megathreads. But, I think the issue you are trying to solve with their return won't be helped by their return. This forum is dying.

The audience is split up between two or three different, non-overlapping interfaces and we've been closed for at least three years now I think? There's just not enough people here to sustain conversation on most topics. We don't have any new people and we don't have any way to attract new people.

Don't say it out loud. Makes me sad. But yeah, you're right.

Can't hurt to have megathreads back, I don't think it will help much, though.

Isn't there something else we can do to keep the forum going? I have no idea how to attract people, or how any of this stuff works, so I'm not sure what kind of ideas to offer. I just don't want this place to die.

 

[Bongo]

The forum I've been on longest is for an even older community than this one, and they have had no way to gain new members for over a decade. These things can last for a long time on sheer inertia, just getting slower and slower but never quite stopping.

 

[SabreCat]

I'm not opposed to megathreads. But, I think the issue you are trying to solve with their return won't be helped by their return. This forum is dying.

The audience is split up between two or three different, non-overlapping interfaces and we've been closed for at least three years now I think? There's just not enough people here to sustain conversation on most topics. We don't have any new people and we don't have any way to attract new people.

The login page still says that registrations will be open again in November of 2020.

 

[Falselogic]

Could always shut down the tt discord, which is where I think a lot of the activity goes-

I'd second that motion.

 

[JBear]

Isn't there something else we can do to keep the forum going? I have no idea how to attract people, or how any of this stuff works, so I'm not sure what kind of ideas to offer. I just don't want this place to die.

I mean, attracting people isn't the issue. It's literally impossible for new members to join unless they already have an "in" of knowing somebody.

(Granted, I'm sure attracting people would *also* be a problem if new registrations were open. I'm sure the inability to joined has cooled driveby traffic.)

 

[Beowulf]

I actually had a friend who tried to join like a year ago when I was running the "comic doctors" thread; he said his application just went into limbo. I suspect he wasn't the only one. I think we'd have more people drift in if they were actually able to.

I personally like the idea of bringing back megathreads because 1) I don't actually like using Discord and I think they'll move a little of that activity back here; and 2) There's a series of mini-LPs I kinda want to do all in their own thread.

Given how long I've seen comic book fan communities go on despite never really picking up new members, I don't think TT is in danger of closing the doors any time soon. But getting some new blood to wander in certainly wouldn't hurt, either.

 

[WildcatJF]

I guarantee shutting down the Discord will not increase the posting on the forum. It's not really a comparable means of communication. The forums offer a different experience (typically more long form content with more critical engagement) than Discord, which is more in the moment and free flowing. I know that this is a joke, but if the Discord is ever truly on the chopping block I think you'll have even less users here than before. I myself don't have the time or energy to do big threads like I did when I joined, and I prefer the drop in nature of Discord these days. It just works better for me.

As for megathreads, I don't really see the appeal. I like more focused stuff when it comes to forum topics, but perhaps I'm in the minority.

I do know the mods haven't been able to move on some things here as much as they planned due to real world shit, and I hope that they can soon. It may not be a bad idea to broaden our moderation pool so that people with more "spoons" can help update some of the dated language, assist in banners and member backlogs, and potentially aid in expanding TT membership.

 

[Kazin]

Yeah, I meant it as a joke, for the record. Just because I don't care for discord doesn't mean others who do should be deprived of it.

 

[WildcatJF]

It's not ideal for everyone. Totally get that.

 

[Issun]

I'm not opposed to megathreads. But, I think the issue you are trying to solve with their return won't be helped by their return. This forum is dying.

The audience is split up between two or three different, non-overlapping interfaces and we've been closed for at least three years now I think? There's just not enough people here to sustain conversation on most topics. We don't have any new people and we don't have any way to attract new people.

I think "dying" might be too strong a word. "Stagnant" might be more accurate. Interaction has stayed pretty steady for a couple of years now, and while we don't have new people joining, we're not really bleeding members, either. We even had one return recently! GG followed by the missing stair issue finally resolved 3 years later put the kibosh on any real growth, but there's enough people that still enjoy coming here to keep it humming along, even if we're not at 2012 levels of activity.

 

[Patrick]

My goal with this thread was not to save Talking Time from certain doom. I saw some conversation about megathreads, remembered liking them, and thought it was worth more discussion.

Specifically, I remember liking the general ‘not worth it’s own thread,” and the videogames one.

 

[Issun]

My goal with this thread was not to save Talking Time from certain doom. I saw some conversation about megathreads, remembered liking them, and thought it was worth more discussion.

Specifically, I remember liking the general ‘not worth it’s own thread,” and the videogames one.

What is more Talking Time than a major thread derail, I ask you?

 

[Patrick]

Too true!

 

[Violentvixen]

I think my post is what sparked this so here it is:

Also, I really hate that it was decided not to have the megathreads anymore, I think that's what drove a lot of people to Discord. I miss those threads so much. It was so fun to have a short little conversation about something over a period of a couple days. That's now much more difficult with Discord not being amenable to several hour breaks between people being available, and the joy was starting a conversation about a small topic I wouldn't look up on my own, there's no way I'd click on a thread for every small conversation.

Honestly every few months I'd go back through those Not Worth It's Own Thread ones and have a lot of fun rereading posts. Now I can't.

And for those of you confused as to what's being discussed, this pinned post in the Television Games forum best summarizes the decision. I can't formally quote the post but here it is:

One of our goals in this new incarnation of Talking Time is to use the fresh start as an opportunity to improve the quality of the discourse. One example of this is to abolish the tradition of the "not worth its own thread" thread.

While such a thread may serve a valid use in theory, in practice, worthy topics of all varieties end up getting dumped in there and fizzling out prematurely, when they could have sustained a discussion just fine had a thread been dedicated to them. And even if a discussion is able to take place, it just becomes orphaned once it has gone dormant, effectively unable to be referenced or resumed amidst a megathread that grows to tens of thousands of posts covering thousands of topics over a period of years. It loses every advantage that a persisting forum offers in the first place.

For some of us, creating a thread may pose a certain anxiety: "Would I be wasting my time? What if no one but me cares? Can't I just drop this somewhere it won't matter either way?" An opening post needn't require any special effort, however. It can be a link and a sentence, just the same as you'd plug into the old megathread. And history has shown time and again that a thread concerning even the most minor of topics can cultivate a vibrant conversation. But for that to happen, someone has to make the thread first. So for the sake of enriching the forum, if you have something to share or discuss that doesn't fit in an existing thread, tell yourself these words: "Always make the thread!"

I'm really glad we're having this discussion, thank you @Patrick !

 

[Issun]

I think that was mainly Kishi's opinion, not the mods in general. While I can understand where they're coming from, time seems to have proven them, if not 100% wrong, then not entirely correct either.

 

[Issun]

For good or for ill, I did it.

In memory of yomamacuhsuckit/Mike Dinosaur

 

[Becksworth]

I'm fine either way.

And yeah members will inevitably fall off over time as life happens, so the biggest problem is the lack of new people being able to actually join.

 

[Phantoon]

For good or for ill, I did it.

In memory of yomamacuhsuckit/Mike Dinosaur

You did good, Issun

 

[muteKi]

I'm fine either way.

And yeah members will inevitably fall off over time as life happens, so the biggest problem is the lack of new people being able to actually join.

Someday we'll get through that account approval backlog

 

[Yimothy]

On the old forum I was a big megathread user. Aside from my Let’s Plays I think I started fewer than ten threads, maybe less than five. I always liked that I could just make a post and it wasn’t a big deal, and if I wanted to know what I’d thought about some game at some point in the past I could use the search function to find my posts. When the new forum opened, my plan was to start one of the old megathreads immediately, so that my name and avatar would always be on the front page of television games. I was (mildly) crushed when I got to the new forum and saw the post about no more megathreads.

Then I started making threads if I wanted to talk about something and there wasn’t a thread already. Some of them got decent uptake from other people, some of them were later superseded by newer threads on the same topic, some of them just drifted deeper into the high page numbers of the thread lists. A couple show up fairly regularly on the front page. From a purely my ego standpoint, I kind of like it better this way. Maybe I wouldn’t have produced my Pleasure Hearts translation if instead of making a thread about it I’d just posted a GIF of its awesome bomb animation in a megathread, which was what I had in mind when I started recording gameplay of it.

Now that the old forum is in an archive that I can’t search, if I want to find an old post that’s in a megathread it’s near impossible, but if it’s in a more specific thread I usually can. I’m not going back all that often but I do from time to time.

All that said, I might never have participated in Talking Time without being able to post in megathreads. Well, those and LPs and mafia.