How to Improve the Entertainment Forum

[Mik]

Hi guys,

I think that its pretty obvious to everyone that this sub-forum in particular (even taking into account the lack of traffic in the forums in general) is in a bit of a slump. I've volunteered to try and improve it and this is the first step. Now I dont really see why this cant improve. There is two major wrestling shows on a week...there are at least 3 or 4 reasonable film releases a week, there's hundreds of tv shows on (not to mention the access lots of people now have to a huge backlog of tv and film), thousands of books and albums to discuss. There is no reason why this forum cant thrive.

I've always been really impressed by the quality of contributors in the 'Entertainment' forum. Maybe its just the nature of the type of people this forum attracts, but over the years I think that many of us have developed quite similar and yet diverse tastes and we've never been afraid to share them with each other. A lot of us take our media habits seriously and as a result we've watched long running television shows together. We've shared film and book recommendations and we've discussed musical tastes. I think that as a forum we've developed a bit of trust when it comes to suggestions and advice on media and thats something not a lot of places get.

So my aim is to try and turn this sub-forum into a serious and thriving environment for film, tv, literature and music discussion and news. I'm sure that its not going to be easy and that it will take a bit of work. Maybe in the first instance work by just a few people, maybe initially just the commitment of one person, and thats what I'm here for.

So the purpose of this thread is to try and share ideas and suggestions of how to improve. I'll share my ideas and my vision and I'd welcome suggestions from anyone else about how we can improve. Ultimately I'd like this thread to be a bit of a posting guide of etiquette that new people can read and can pick up on the atmosphere here and how things are done around here in one stop.

So I'll start off and then I'd like you guys to contribute your own ideas:

1). I think that the big catch-all threads are counter productive to encouraging discussion, particularly when it comes to new contributors...having to sift through a 30 page thread to add their own opinion simply isnt going to happen. Now thats not to say that TV shows or individual films dont eventually create big threads. But I dont think that we have a need for a 'catch all movie review' thread or a 'general trailer' thread when we could have loads of individual threads for each of those movies that might encourage someone to join in for that one particular movie.

2). Along those lines...if you've seen a film, or are looking forward to a film, or if you want to recommend a film, or book, or tv show, or listened to a new album...lets make a thread on it. Whats the worst thing that happens? That you dont get very any replies? Big deal. I often see a film a few months down the line and want to discuss it, so I'll search for the title and find that someone mentioned it in a catch all thread a couple of months ago and now the discussion has moved on, so I dont bother making a reply. Lets commit to trying to create new discussion by starting new threads.

3). Now with that said, nothing makes a forum look more like a wasteland than loads of threads without replies and the only thing that fixes that is people replying. So for anything to improve people need to start posting more. I think that people shouldnt be cautious of starting a new thread for fear of it failing, so I think we need to encourage new threads by not allowing them to die without trace. So if you see something that you want to reply to...dont hold your tongue, actually reply to it. If you see a thread languishing with only a couple of replies, commit to having a look in and see if there's anything that you could add to it. There will be no quick fix to lack of conversation in here, but there is enough traffic on the forums and visitors to this forum that if people who view post...it will improve.

4). Linked to that I'd like to see a kind of sounding board thread where maybe people who are cautious about starting a new thread can bounce their ideas around and see whether there will be any interest in a thread before starting it.

5). The atmosphere created is important and when it comes to media opinions are undoubtedly subjective. I dont doubt in the past people have been discouraged from posting here because they have been hassled or harassed over their opinions. Thats crazy because if anything a difference of opinions should create more discussion, not stifle it. Argue people's points and discuss their opinions by all means, but dont demean the person for having their say, even if it is different to yours.

6). I think that we need to attract people from outside of the main website to our forums. So we need some form of advertising, now thats not to say that I think we need to go around spamming other message boards (necessarily), but maybe we need to take advice from the wrestling guys and get our own twitter page up and running. Maybe get re-tweeted from a few celebs. Does anyone else have any ideas for how we could raise our profiles outside of the main website?

7). Spoilers need to be properly marked. Each new season of a television show gets its own thread. Each post discussing an episode is labelled with the episode number and spoilers are used when spoiling anything thats going to annoy people and clearly marked with what you are discussing.



Those are just really basic starter things...does anyone else have anything to add at this point? I really am committed to putting the time and effort into improving this and I hope at least a few others are as well. Even if you arent, everyone just making a little more effort can make a big difference to the overall thing.

[Alf]

Sounds ace. Because of my job I've got access to every new movie release so I could make a lot more effort to talk about those and any upcoming titles I'm excited about. I think I'm going to do a 2013 Movie Slate Thread, discussing every decent sized release of the year - but that kind of falls under the catch-all thing you are talking about.

For me it's time. I have less time to do this kind of stuff these days, but I do bloody love it so I'll just have to make time.

[Mik]

There's nothing wrong with creating a thread that talks about all the big upcoming most anticipated films. The problem will be if people then start talking about all those films IN THAT THREAD instead of branching off from there to create new threads about the films that interest them. I dont know how it happened, but somehow we became enamoured on here with the idea of creating 'big successful threads' that get loads of replies...whats the point? You dont get rewards for having a great thread starting/post reply ratio.

[Funboy]

I suppose my problem is that of spoilers. Either inadvertently spoiling for others or having things be spoiled for me.

Coming late to a show can be a problem, as like you said discussions have moved on.
For example, I know I was exceedingly late to The Wire, and because of that didn't venture in to that thread.

I guess if each season of a show got its own thread it could potentially prompt more discussion for people coming late to a show?
Even the Sons of Anarchy thread - it was a great idea to start a 'lets watch something together' thread; but now that it's halfway through it's fifth season we should split up the discussion?

[Simon]

I've always been really impressed by the quality of contributors in the 'Entertainment' forum. Maybe its just the nature of the type of people this forum attracts, but over the years I think that many of us have developed quite similar and yet diverse tastes and we've never been afraid to share them with each other. A lot of us take our media habits seriously and as a result we've watched long running television shows together. We've shared film and book recommendations and we've discussed musical tastes. I think that as a forum we've developed a bit of trust when it comes to suggestions and advice on media and thats something not a lot of places get.

Definitely agree with this. While the quantity of posts in here is depressingly low, the quality is exceptional. I've just spent the last hour or so reading through the Breaking Bad thread and it's all great.

6). I think that we need to attract people from outside of the main website to our forums. So we need some form of advertising, now thats not to say that I think we need to go around spamming other message boards (necessarily), but maybe we need to take advice from the wrestling guys and get our own twitter page up and running. Maybe get re-tweeted from a few celebs. Does anyone else have any ideas for how we could raise our profiles outside of the main website?

While this is all good, we should start closer to home - the majority of posters, myself included, don't bother posting in here. We should find out why that is, and then try to remedy it. But yes, advertising in general is also a good plan. I'm not a fan of spamming to be honest, it annoys people and has a low hit rate, but posting on Twitter and looking for retweets is of course a great idea. HOWEVER, I think this is something that needs to be plugged for and by the wrestling element of the site, and hope we get a trickle down - I'm not convinced people will sign up to a wrestling website to talk about other things. By all means emphasise the point that this wrestling forum has a thriving non-wrestling discussion section (and it does - not by our own standards, but compared to most forums this place is still pretty busy) but I think the main selling point still needs to be the wrestling section.

I definitely agree on the move towards stand-alone threads for movies, albums etc, and think this will drum up more interest. And also agree on making it a friendlier environment - the banter that is commonplace on here is fine for those of us who are regulars but to newbies it might well be offputting. To be completely honest there are shitloads of comedy shows I would love to post about, both old and new, but any time I post about them I get cunted off for being boring about it, as if comedy is less important or worthy of discussion than drama.

[Mik]

I suppose my problem is that of spoilers. Either inadvertently spoiling for others or having things be spoiled for me.

Coming late to a show can be a problem, as like you said discussions have moved on.
For example, I know I was exceedingly late to The Wire, and because of that didn't venture in to that thread.

I guess if each season of a show got its own thread it could potentially prompt more discussion for people coming late to a show?
Even the Sons of Anarchy thread - it was a great idea to start a 'lets watch something together' thread; but now that it's halfway through it's fifth season we should split up the discussion?

Yeah, I think that spoilers etiquette is one of the things I'm wanting to get a handle on as it can be a huge annoyance if not done properly. I think that we're pretty good at it in general, but having hard and fast guidelines might make it easier for newcomers and less arguable for those who simple dont like using them. I agree with the idea of splitting TV shows up by season. We did it with Lost and The Wire and it worked fine there, so I think that you might be right. I think we need to start putting episode tags in posts too as thats something that comes up a lot when people are just posting as they are watching. I remember watching The Wire late and was worried when trying to catch up with the discussion thread as to whether or not I was going to accidentally trip onto discussion on the next episode. Same happened just yesterday with Homeland which the UK are one episode behind the US with. Just a minor thing but something we need to get into a habit of doing I think.

[Mik]

Definitely agree with this. While the quantity of posts in here is depressingly low, the quality is exceptional. I've just spent the last hour or so reading through the Breaking Bad thread and it's all great.

Yeah, in general I think a lot of us have grown up together and developed pretty strong tastes due to similarities and recommendations. Most of the 'successful' threads are really high quality and interesting stuff.

While this is all good, we should start closer to home - the majority of posters, myself included, don't bother posting in here. We should find out why that is, and then try to remedy it. But yes, advertising in general is also a good plan.

Yeah, I'll talk to the mods of the other forums and get their views on it. I definitely think that we need less of a cliquey (I know, ironic me saying this) attitude towards the website in general. I might try and do a few bits and pieces to get other areas of this website outside of their own forums and into the Entertainment forums. Other than just starting a thread in the different forums and putting a signature link to this forum, does anyone have any other suggestions?

I'm not a fan of spamming to be honest, it annoys people and has a low hit rate, but posting on Twitter and looking for retweets is of course a great idea. HOWEVER, I think this is something that needs to be plugged for and by the wrestling element of the site, and hope we get a trickle down - I'm not convinced people will sign up to a wrestling website to talk about other things. By all means emphasise the point that this wrestling forum has a thriving non-wrestling discussion section (and it does - not by our own standards, but compared to most forums this place is still pretty busy) but I think the main selling point still needs to be the wrestling section.

I agree. The twitter thing shouldnt be hard as its pretty easy to create synergy with the WWE Rajah twitter. As for actually getting people from the outside interested, a lot of it will come down to the quality of stuff we can put out there for people to see.

I definitely agree on the move towards stand-alone threads for movies, albums etc, and think this will drum up more interest. And also agree on making it a friendlier environment - the banter that is commonplace on here is fine for those of us who are regulars but to newbies it might well be offputting. To be completely honest there are shitloads of comedy shows I would love to post about, both old and new, but any time I post about them I get cunted off for being boring about it, as if comedy is less important or worthy of discussion than drama.

I think that we're at the stage at the moment where this simply needs to stop. We arent getting enough traffic in here to be picky about what kinds of threads should be made and what shouldnt. If there is something that someone wants to discuss, they should create a thread about it and I will be encouraging an open and friendly atmosphere to that end. If am also committed to trying to join in as many different threads as possible and hopefully others will do the same.

[Mik]

Eventually I'll compile whats been said into one post.

Personally, I'd like to see big news posted into its own thread to encourage discussion.

Take that Pixar has bought Lucasfilm, that it pretty important stuff. It shouldnt go into the Star Wars Ramble thread...it should have a thread of its own.

Loads of the Marvel and DC news should've gone into their own threads instead of being wedged into a general Marvel and DC thread. And the General News and Ramble thread which has seemed to die out a bit now, is a bit pointless anyway. You dont need all the news in one thread, we've already got them under one roof in here and the search function will allow you to find any news you're looking for rather than cramming them together into one thread.

This is not being negative about anyone who has done this previously. Just a suggestion for moving forward.

[Beefy]

Don't know if this is a better fit here or in the new 'sounding board' thread. However I read this thread and then went to have a shit. And whilst there, I had an idea.

I don't know if this is feasible and it certainly won't do anything directly to improve the quality of posts in this forum. However what it could do is bring people in from other parts of the site into the Entertainment forum and hopefully then to stick around. And maybe, if it did work, then potentially, maybe could be a way of attracting other people to the site.

How's about a forum project? Something that we all get involved in with a view to actually creating something tangible at the end. I'm thinking something along the lines of the Star Wars Uncut fan remake but maybe someone could think of something better. I'm just thinking of something that maybe 20 people - hopefully more - could pitch in on over the course of six months and do something that we can then actually have to look back on when we're done.

What do we think?

[Simon]

If it was something I was interested in I would definitely be on board. I know that adds nothing...I'm saying I have the time and potentially the enthusiasm basically.

[Beefy]

It shouldn't really take masses of time or be any real commitment. Depending on what it was, of course. With the film remake thing it's great if you're handy with animation or have some other creative ideas you can bring to it but you're basically just asking people to make three or four 30 second videos on their phone over the course of a few months.

It's just asking people to actually do something - maybe rope in a couple of friends, etc, that's where people may not be bothered/keen.

As for what the project could be... well that would be a thread and discussion of its own.

[Matty C]

I definitely like the idea of splitting TV shows into seasons. I catch up on shows via Netflix these days and refuse to enter a catch-all thread for fear of ruining future seasons. Breaking Bad is the one I’m currently running through and wouldn’t mind commenting on but I’m only in like season 4 and don’t want to know what’s coming up. Season specific threads would help a lot.

I think the catch-all threads being split up is for the better as well. I made that argument when the mods were running around wanting to consolidate everything and was ignored. Catch all threads probably make administering the site easier, and I certainly appreciate the efforts of the admins, but people are lazy and won’t sift through 50 pages of rambling to find something about the one item they actually want to address. It’s overwhelming.

I haven’t really noticed the clique-ness in here. Perhaps I’m just thick enough for it not to bother me.

[lotjx]

I like the seasons idea. Too many times, myself included, I'll spoil shit from season one and then have someone cry about it on a show that has been off TV for six years. I think it would be a lot easier on all of us if we had threads divided into seasons. If its an older season that we are talking about then there is no need for spoiler tags. If its a new season then we should use spoiler tags for everything. It would also help new people coming in if they know that going into a thread, it would cut some headaches down.

[Chris]

I think there definitely needs to be less polls, as they tend to stifle discussion as they progress. I'll admit I've been guilty of just voting for certain movies or characters in recent polls without adding anything to the thread, but when a poll is already pretty lop-sided in terms of votes, no amount of posts is really going to make a difference. I find that the discussion of submissions for a poll is often much more interesting than the actual poll itself. So I'm all for more discussion about big topics, as opposed to a lot of polls cluttering the top half of the forum.

It might be good to try and keep entertainment-related threads in this forum, as opposed to elsewhere. The X Factor, Alan Partridge and Gervais/Merchant/Pilkington threads are all in the Tavern, for example. The latter in particular still generates a decent amount of on-going discussion as new things develop, so I think it would make more sense to have those types of threads in here if we're trying to increase traffic.

[Simon]

I'd be more than happy to dig out a few threads that could be moved across. The ones you've mentioned plus the Comedy thread (although that is a catch-all so maybe not), the Comedy Gold thread etc.

[Mik]

Don't know if this is a better fit here or in the new 'sounding board' thread. However I read this thread and then went to have a shit. And whilst there, I had an idea.

I don't know if this is feasible and it certainly won't do anything directly to improve the quality of posts in this forum. However what it could do is bring people in from other parts of the site into the Entertainment forum and hopefully then to stick around. And maybe, if it did work, then potentially, maybe could be a way of attracting other people to the site.

How's about a forum project? Something that we all get involved in with a view to actually creating something tangible at the end. I'm thinking something along the lines of the Star Wars Uncut fan remake but maybe someone could think of something better. I'm just thinking of something that maybe 20 people - hopefully more - could pitch in on over the course of six months and do something that we can then actually have to look back on when we're done.

What do we think?

I like that idea. It actually links with a few possible ideas I've got (a film-making thread, somewhere we can enter media competitions etc). It shouldnt be too hard these days with most people having smart phones with reasonable camera quality, virtually everyone having editing software either on their computers on their phones and home producer sites like youtube being readily available. It might be a good idea to produce a comic book or something like that to start off with, so people just need to get a list of photos, but could then move onto filming things if we want. But yeah, the idea of a big project we can all work on would be awesome.

I definitely like the idea of splitting TV shows into seasons. I catch up on shows via Netflix these days and refuse to enter a catch-all thread for fear of ruining future seasons. Breaking Bad is the one I’m currently running through and wouldn’t mind commenting on but I’m only in like season 4 and don’t want to know what’s coming up. Season specific threads would help a lot.

I think the catch-all threads being split up is for the better as well. I made that argument when the mods were running around wanting to consolidate everything and was ignored. Catch all threads probably make administering the site easier, and I certainly appreciate the efforts of the admins, but people are lazy and won’t sift through 50 pages of rambling to find something about the one item they actually want to address. It’s overwhelming.

I haven’t really noticed the clique-ness in here. Perhaps I’m just thick enough for it not to bother me.

I like the seasons idea. Too many times, myself included, I'll spoil shit from season one and then have someone cry about it on a show that has been off TV for six years. I think it would be a lot easier on all of us if we had threads divided into seasons. If its an older season that we are talking about then there is no need for spoiler tags. If its a new season then we should use spoiler tags for everything. It would also help new people coming in if they know that going into a thread, it would cut some headaches down.

I didnt mean cliqueness in here as such, more in the fact that most of the posters at this website tend to stay in one or two forums at the most. I think that the spoilers issue and the segmenting threads issue is pretty easy to address, we just need rules to it and everyone to stick to them. So from whats been discussed so far I think good ideas would be to...

• Split TV threads of film franchise threads up into separate threads.
• To clearly mark any spoilers with what the nature is that they are spoiling.
• To mark your post (either in the title, or right at the beginning of your post) into which episode you are discussing (eg 'Homeland Season 2 Episode 4') so people dont accidentally stray into something they dont want to read. I know this one is asking people to do more work, but I think eventually people will just get used to it and if it means that something significant doesnt get spoiled for one person and consequently stop them from going into the thread...then its a good thing.
• Old films or old tv shows are tricky as we all need to use common sense there. If we know that it is a particularly juicy thing to be given away, or something that not a lot of people might've seen. Then just be cautious about putting something major up there with no warning. Afterall, imagine that you find a gem of a film that you want to share with people, giving away the big twist in your thread starting post isnt really going to encourage anyone to watch it. Just make sure that you mark whatever it is you're wanting to talk about.

I really dont mind policing this and trying to make sure that this system is followed (eg marking spoilers when they are found) as long as you guys can do me a favour and let me know where its dont anywhere so I can get onto it hopefully before too many people see it and get it ruined for them.

I think there definitely needs to be less polls, as they tend to stifle discussion as they progress. I'll admit I've been guilty of just voting for certain movies or characters in recent polls without adding anything to the thread, but when a poll is already pretty lop-sided in terms of votes, no amount of posts is really going to make a difference. I find that the discussion of submissions for a poll is often much more interesting than the actual poll itself. So I'm all for more discussion about big topics, as opposed to a lot of polls cluttering the top half of the forum.

It might be good to try and keep entertainment-related threads in this forum, as opposed to elsewhere. The X Factor, Alan Partridge and Gervais/Merchant/Pilkington threads are all in the Tavern, for example. The latter in particular still generates a decent amount of on-going discussion as new things develop, so I think it would make more sense to have those types of threads in here if we're trying to increase traffic.

Polls is a tricky one as it really can generate discussion if done properly. But I agree that they need to be fast moving and not have too many going on at one time. They shouldnt be going on for weeks at a time and they shouldnt be cluttering up the rest of the forum.

As for your second paragraph...

I'd be more than happy to dig out a few threads that could be moved across. The ones you've mentioned plus the Comedy thread (although that is a catch-all so maybe not), the Comedy Gold thread etc.

Yeah, completely agree. I'll have a look around and get on with moving stuff across.

[VanillaJello]

Not much to add. But the entertainment section is about the only board outside of sports that I visit on Rajah and I think this sub-forum is fantastic in quality.

[Cewsh]

This is all some pretty exciting progress, actually. I'll be spending much more time around the forum now.

[Canuck]

Adamy had a great thread going for recommendations based on a poster's interests for music specifically. It could work quite well with entertainment as a whole, without relying on a sole individual to make suggestions. For instance I might be looking for a new show to watch, so I tell the thread I have liked 'The office, It's always Sunny in Philadelphia, etc...' in the past. Whoever can feel free to suggest some similar shows, then I can watch and discuss in the specific thread. We've got some similar stuff going on, but it might be an idea to create some extra traffic in the forum.

[Funboy]

Do you mind if I move that post (and then this reply) over to the Sounding Board thread as I think this is a perfect example of what that thread could be good for.

From experience, yes they would. But its fraught with complications and has been tried a couple of times in the past, but has never quite stuck.

I think that the way you've set it out there is probably the best way that it would work.

Month 1 - This Film

Everyone has the opportunity to watch and discuss the film and can enter the thread whenever they want, or if they dont want to they simply dont and then move onto the next month.

The complicated part always seems to be picking the right film, because if people have already seen it, its not ideal and yet if its difficult to get hold of, people dont tend to get hold of it.

It could work really well if you pick a film thats coming out in the cinema, or one that is pretty easy to get hold of but that many people might not have seen. Either way, its definitely worth a try.

Work away. Use the mod powers to move this wherever.

[Reveille]

Individual threads for movies/show/seasons is a great idea...

But what about a thread specifically for Reality TV. We do have a Survivor thread which is going good and needs its own thread, but a thread for shows like Pawn Stars, Under Cover Boss, Deadliest Catch and Gold Rush I don't think would need its own thread but would be cool to drop a few thoughts in there about those shows...

[Mik]

Work away. Use the mod powers to move this wherever.

Done, thanks.

Individual threads for movies/show/seasons is a great idea...

But what about a thread specifically for Reality TV. We do have a Survivor thread which is going good and needs its own thread, but a thread for shows like Pawn Stars, Under Cover Boss, Deadliest Catch and Gold Rush I don't think would need its own thread but would be cool to drop a few thoughts in there about those shows...

So individual threads for the big ones...then a catch all threads to pick the ones up that are unlikely to create much of a stir. If those ones get big enough, then they can always spiral out into their own threads anyway.

[Reveille]

Ya, those shows aren't going to bring in many posts and no there's point in having ten threads with only ten posts in each thread...

And like you said if one of the shows catches on then we can always make its own thread...

[Mik]

Cool. Good call.

I've moved a load of threads over from The Asylum. Only went back a year though, so if anyone finds any others that they want moving over, just let me know.

[Ringo]

This is good. I'm pretty big into film but haven't bothered to check this forum regularly for a long time. Looking forward to getting involved and I'll have a think on some potential ideas and projects.

Should be relatively easy to attract some new people. A separate twitter account is the right way to go.

[Mik]

Okay. I've added the point about spoilers to the front post. Twitter is set up and I'll post a thread about it now. I'm also going to post a sticky thread on the other busy forums in order to try and improve our traffic in here a bit.

Thanks for the hard work you have all been doing in posting more and keeping busier in here. Its been a good start.

The big thing is...do not be afraid of posting new threads.

[Mark Hammer]

If it weren't for this forum I would have never given Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Homeland, or Parks and Recreation a go. I have recently come to value this place after not being much of a tv show person for the longest time.

[Simmo Fortyone]

Mik, I originally thought this might be a topic for Asylum U, but probably has more benefit in here. Can you (or someone else, or a few people) give some pointers on how to do a movie review?

I read this forum a lot, and have always wanted to contribute but would struggle to come up with anything other than "yeah it was good". Lately I've been making an effort to consider some points like cinematography, editing and casting when watching movies and it's leading to me actually feeling like my contributions to threads are worthwhile. I think if there was a sticky post up the top along the lines of "What to look for in movies" or "What to talk about in a review" would encourage a lot more people to have a crack

[Mik]

I like that idea. I seem to be a bit pushed for time a little at the moment to implement some of the things I've got in mind. But by the weekend I should have some time free.

[VHS]

I know you're hard at work, Mik, but I'm curious about your thoughts on a "book" subsection within Entertainment. I've crammed several books these past several months and think it'd be cool to know what everybody else is reading these days. Keep it up.

[Cewsh]

I don't think there's enough discussion to warrant it, honestly. I love talking about books, but that doesn't go on much here.

[VHS]

I don't think there's enough discussion to warrant it, honestly. I love talking about books, but that doesn't go on much here.

Shoot.

[Mik]

I'd love nothing more than a books subsection. I'd happily even have tv and films split...but there's for to be enough conversation to demand it. Get pushing book talk and if there enough chat, a better argument can be made.

[Cewsh]

Yeah man, make some threads about books you're reading. I'd greatly enjoy that discussion.

[Jimmy Zero]

I was actually thinking of starting a non-fiction book thread because the majority of the books I read are of the non-fiction variety. I just tried doing a search, but nothing came up. To anyone's knowledge, is there already a thread like this?

[Mik]

Nope, go for it.

[Beefy]

Mik, I think shutting the movie reviews thread was a mistake and I don't think it's done what I think you hoped it would do.

[Fro]

Agreed. I think the movie review and trailer watch threads should both be unlocked. They serve a good purpose.

[Fro]

What do you think Mik? In light of the way the 2013 cinema thread is being used as a review thread, do you want to consider re-opening the official one? I just dont know that we need a thread about That's My Boy but I will make it if if that's the rule (awful movie btw).

I think 2013 movies are the ones that should be getting their own threads- it's the older random movies where a review thread comes in handy. Basically the opposite of what's going on now.

[Beefy]

I miss the review thread. My comments on Ocean's Twelve need an outlet to be expressed through.

[Alf]

Start an ocean's 12 thread?

[Beefy]

No because it doesn't justify a thread. The idea of forcing people to make threads works for new films, but not for older ones, IMO. And I think that has been shown by this experiment.

[Mik]

I'll respond properly when I get my laptop back Beefy old chap. Sitting posting on my phone at the moment doesn't really give me much opportunity to type.

[Mik]

Agreed. I think the movie review and trailer watch threads should both be unlocked. They serve a good purpose.

What do you think Mik? In light of the way the 2013 cinema thread is being used as a review thread, do you want to consider re-opening the official one? I just dont know that we need a thread about That's My Boy but I will make it if if that's the rule (awful movie btw).

I think 2013 movies are the ones that should be getting their own threads- it's the older random movies where a review thread comes in handy. Basically the opposite of what's going on now.

I miss the review thread. My comments on Ocean's Twelve need an outlet to be expressed through.

No because it doesn't justify a thread. The idea of forcing people to make threads works for new films, but not for older ones, IMO. And I think that has been shown by this experiment.

Okay. Not an experiment first of all. I dont want catch all threads taking the place of new threads. Realistically you could fit most things to do with films into just a couple of threads 'New films thread'...'Old films thread'...'Review thread'. The fact that the 2013 Movies thread seems to be encouraging people to post one liner reviews from films of this year instead of posting new threads does demonstrate just how stifling this notion of catch all threads are. There's been lots of good films out already this year and instead of raising awareness about them or discussing them...people are posting a one line review in something that is turning into a catch all thread. Its not an experiment. In order to create discussion, you've got to create discussion. If people dont step up to it, it wont happen. Regardless of whether its in one thread or one forum. So the general review thread and the trailers thread will stay locked for new movies. If something is upcoming and you like the look of it...post a thread. If you've just seen something that you've enjoyed...post a thread.

Where I do agree there needs to be a compromise is where it comes to old films that people have just seen that they want to post a quick comment on, but realistically not enough people will be interested in to justify a thread for it. Personally in an ideal world, I'd love to see a thread made for it and if it gets no replies then fine, if it interests a couple of people and they reply to it...then great. To me thats ultimately better than a one liner in a catch all thread sinking. But I understand that I might be in the minority here. So what are people offering as solutions. One thread for quick reviews on older films isnt ideal to me, but if thats what people want then they are more than welcome to go for it. The way I see it, if there is an opportunity to raise awareness of a film at a time that is pertinent to encourage other people to see it (ie cinema release, dvd release), then I dont see any reason why an individual thread isnt the best port of call. But I will listen to what people have to say on the matter.

[Fro]

My thought is that if someone wants to post a quick review of say Caddyshack 2 or whatever random old movie they just watched, there used to a place for that, and it was a fairly active thread and there would often be responses and discussion. Since that thread was closed, my concern is that people have just stopped posting those sorts of reviews. I agree with your points in theory, but in practice I feel like it has halted that aspect of the forum because (whether right or wrong) it seems kind of lame and pointless to start a thread about Caddyshack 2 so instead of doing so, they just don't post anything, the result being less activity.

My solution is to simply re-open the review thread with a notice that it should be used for old movies only (maybe re-name it random/old movie review thread or something like that).

As for new movies, I'm with you- people should be making threads.

[Beefy]

The issue with having multiple threads for everythnig is that we prune too often.

I've watched two films in the last week or so. The Raid and Ocean's Twelve. If I wanted to talk about The Raid I can definitely see why I'd want to read the appropriate thread and if there isn't one then start one (I'm pretty sure there is one). But Ocean's Twelve not only does it not need a new thread but there's probably a fair few existing posts in the Review thread about the film which I could read and maybe reply to and because it gets used often it doesn't get pruned.

I agree that there's a balancing act in this instance but I'm sure there is a middle-ground that we can use.

[Dodgy Browne]

Ultralame!

[Mik]

What is?

[Fro]

Just circling back to this discussion.. while we closed and pruned the "Official Movie Review Thread", that seems to have been mostly replaced with the "2017 Films" or "2016 Films" threads as a place for quick reviews, truly defeating the purpose of everything said above since those threads are specifically for new movies which were supposed to have their own threads and NOT be lumped into a catch-all thread. We also closed the Movie Trailer thread, and the annual films threads have also seemingly filled in that gap.

There's also the ill-titled "Movies that Don't Justify a Thread Thread" which was supposed to somewhat replace "Movie Reviews" and "Movie Trailers", but it hasn't been used in several years probably because no one can find it.

So yea I wanted to write quick reviews of The Founder and John Wick but I wasn't really sure where to do it so I decided to come in here and rant about the state of the sub-forum instead.

my advice? bring back the Movie Review and Movie Trailer threads, while still encouraging/instructing people to make a whole new thread if it's a big/new movie. or maybe do something about the 2017 films threads if you're still on the mission to destroy catch-all threads (although Mik is an active participant in there which strikes me as odd).

but honestly I think catch-all threads are GOOD for forum activity. having no good place to post a movie review = bad for activity.

[Mik]

Yeah, let's start new ones. The idea was to bring new people to start new threads, it didn't work, we have less traffic, just do anything that'll get people posting about films and tv, if you think big threads will do that, then let's try it.

[Simon]

Catch-all generic threads should be avoided IMO. I get why people don't want to make new threads for niche movies or shows but just risk it, there's bound to be someone else with an opinion.

[Mik]

Yeah, that's what I said, but 5 years later and it didn't happen.

[Fro]

I think the middle ground is to allow a few catch-all threads because they do generate a good amount of discussion while also directing people to film-specific threads (or creating them yourself) when the situation calls for it.

[LOCONUT]

Personally I find the mega threads about movies a little daunting. I really enjoy movies and I really enjoy discussing them but I don't want to browse through a million reviews about movies I don't care about in order to find the one that I'm up for discussion on. I don't even bother posting my own reviews because I just assume that somebody has already reviewed it.

For the record, I don't know that it really matters either way.

[son_of_foley]

No I agree. I watched get out last week and would like to be able to see everyone's thoughts on it. Same with arrival.

[LOCONUT]

I thought Get Out was spectacular.

[Percussion]

I thought Arrival was spectacular.

[Cewsh]

Catch all threads can be phenomenal for creating a throughline of conversation that never peters out. They are absolutely good and neccesary. It just can't be ONLY those.

[Fro]

No I agree. I watched get out last week and would like to be able to see everyone's thoughts on it. Same with arrival.

There are threads for both of those movies.

https://forums.rajah.com/showthread.php?151904-Get-Out
https://forums.rajah.com/showthread....t-Arrival-quot

[son_of_foley]

Yeah but have some comments gone in the movie review thread etc that's what I mean