I'm looking for feedback from posters on the idea of abandoning threads as a requirement for discussions. Meaning, instead of being boxed into a specific thread to discuss any particular thing about each soap opera, including episodes of the soaps and spoilers, even going so far as creating a forum for each current soap opera where fans can discuss anything they want about the show.

This is about growing the community and encouraging more discussions, which have been stifled by boxing conversations into the bubble of a single thread, where topics are forced to fit. This is not about expanding discussions about individual episodes. This is about giving people the freedom to say what they want without being limited to a single thread.

Let me know your thoughts.

If it's just for the current soaps... I think that could be an interesting idea. While keeping a General Discussion topic for the soap in question still available for people who want to talk "in general". That general topic can without a problem still be in the X-nameofsoap's individual section. But each soap having their section is just going to work... IMO. Lots of material... pictures, any type of interesting things can go in different topics and not get lost in the main topic.

I'm supportive of the idea for the main active soaps having an individual forum section each, if I understood correctly. 💪

Sounds like a good plan. The old WoST boards were like that and it worked well.

But would the old threads still continue, like the classic Y&R thread? To me it makes more sense to post old clips and articles there than people starting a new thread for random odds and ends.

Maybe I don't understand... what would that look like? Would we get rid of all the history we have for each cancelled soap, for example? I wouldn't like that. I like knowing that I can go to a specific thread about a specific soap and discuss with the fans of that soap. I wouldn't want to have to skim through pages and pages of something I don't care about just to discuss something I do care about - seems like things would get lost in the shuffle. But again, maybe I'm not quite understanding. :)

14 minutes ago, alwaysAMC said:

Maybe I don't understand... what would that look like? Would we get rid of all the history we have for each cancelled soap, for example? I wouldn't like that. I like knowing that I can go to a specific thread about a specific soap and discuss with the fans of that soap. I wouldn't want to have to skim through pages and pages of something I don't care about just to discuss something I do care about - seems like things would get lost in the shuffle. But again, maybe I'm not quite understanding. :)

Same... thanks for putting words to my confusion 😄

@Errol I'm just as confused as some of the above posters about what your vision for this is.

I can imagine what you're saying regarding a few things.

For example, there are two recent discussions of "Sisters" in the Cancelled Soaps section: within the "Primetime Soaps" thread and also on a dedicated Sisters thread. Both places are totally fine, neither is right or wrong, but it gets confusing as to where to post.

Another example is a new thread about "Rich Man Poor Man" in the Cancelled Soaps section. Does that belong there, or in
the existing "Classic Primetime MiniSeries" thread in the Primetime section? Both places are fine. (Of course the point of the new thread was to discuss if richmanpoorman was actually a soap or not.)

For daytime soaps, there have been miscellaneous discussions within the Cancelled Soaps section in the pinned threads called "ABC Daytime", "NBC Daytime", and "CBS Daytime".
That works for cancelled soaps.

Are you suggesting something like this thread in the "Cancelled Soaps" section
"ALL: General Retro Soap Discussion" (see description in first post of that thread)
https://boards.soapoperanetwork.com/topic/68121-all-general-rebtro-soap-discussion/
I can see a niche for that sort of thing; but otherwise?

I can see how a general area would address cancelled daytime and cancelled primetime series where things overlap, per the above examples that already exist.

But I do think there's a need for separate threads for active daytime soaps. Otherwise I think it would get very confusing.
Or you could have an * additional * thread called "Misc. current daytime discussion".

Of course, sometimes we drift into discussions of the past within the current month's discussion threads of active daytime soaps. That's only natural, and sometimes it's unclear as to whether to continue the discussion there, or to move it over to the bts/history thread. Is that what you're referring to? I don't think there's an easy answer to that.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by janea4old

I myself prefer threads because it's organized and structured.

8 minutes ago, DaytimeFan said:

I myself prefer threads because it's organized and structured.

I agree; sections are going to become way too messy in my opinion.

3 hours ago, alwaysAMC said:

Maybe I don't understand... what would that look like? Would we get rid of all the history we have for each cancelled soap, for example? I wouldn't like that. I like knowing that I can go to a specific thread about a specific soap and discuss with the fans of that soap. I wouldn't want to have to skim through pages and pages of something I don't care about just to discuss something I do care about - seems like things would get lost in the shuffle. But again, maybe I'm not quite understanding. :)

I feel the same. For instance, I don't currently watch DAYS or GH so if they are mixed in with other shows I'd be scrolling through a lot of posts I'd have no interest in seeing. I hope the cancelled shows keep their separate identities. When I go to the AW thread I want to see the discussion about AW not the other shows I've never watched.

Threads are better because it gives the power to the users to keep it structured in a way moderators and admins cannot. The recent Primetime Soap thread and Sisters thread is a good example - I had no idea there was one for Sisters so went into the PTS thread until another user pointed towards the Sisters thread.

And how would a threadless system work? It doesn't. It's good, it's sorting and sometimes you have to trust your users to redirect each other.

@Errol

Let me know your thoughts

So it would be like the canceled forum where everything is discussed in one place, even spoilers and past history of the show?

My only concern would be going through pages and pages to find the current episode discussion.

Some already discuss the past history of the show in monthly threads.

Whatever makes the board more productive and active is fine by me.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Soapsuds

I'm good with threads.

I think what he is suggesting is like the soapcentral boards where they have a sub-board for every section. The threads in that section would be separate, specific topics. The problem with that is you have lots of dead threads.

For example, a gh board would have say a thread about willow and say another thread about favorite characters and so forth.

I'm confused, because we all know what threads are, but I feel like you might be talking about the individual sections of the whole community? So, instead of there being separate sections for current soap discussion, classic/cancelled soap discussion, and spoilers, they would all just be together in one place? Or, there would be one section that is all things Y&R (current discussion, classic discussion, spoilers, etc), one for BTG, one for GH, etc.

I personally think it's fine the way it is, but I do think it's no longer necessary to have separate boards for the various networks/streamers over in the primetime section.