DRAFTS - General Discussion

Yeah, we went a little haywire last Fall. But, it's been awhile and I've got an itch again. Is this a good time to run this by the powers that be again?

If not one of Kirby's great ones, I'd be interested in a War Movies Draft for Memorial Day.

You know what I do with topics I'm not interested in? I don't read them. Life's too short to be worried about how other people have fun.

I'll fully agree that Drafts have a signal to noise issue, that much of the discussion amounts to "good pick!/bad pick!", and it renders the rest of the Drafts & Lists category unusable during the period of a draft. (That said, other than the End of the Year lists, this category averages something like 3 or 4 non-draft topics a month for the rest of the year, so it's hardly busy.) And, some of the participants don't offer a whole lot. I think it should be mandatory to post just Why you picked what you did.

I'd count the plusses as:

1. It's a game. It's fun.
2. It often calls my attention to obscure movies which go right into my Netflix queue.
3. The genre drafts inevitably have at least some discussion about what defines a genre.
4. It's a game. It's fun.
5. I enjoy the social aspects. You do learn more about your fellow posters, their tastes, and idiosynchrocies.
6. Discussion of the merits of some films inevitably breaks out. Discussions that will involve movies other than Watchmen, Wolverine, Star Trek, Observe & Report, and Terminator, which seem to have absorbed much of the attention so far this year.
7. The discussions that do spin out tend to have multiple points of view, since people are approaching the draft with different strategies beyond good/bad.
8. Hopefully activity in one area of the board will spur activity in others. If I'm on the board, I'm certainly not reading just the draft threads.
9. It's a game. It's fun.

We were asked not to have another one for awhile. We complied with that request. What's that proof of other than we're willing to work with the powers that be? If there's enough people that show interest and we're willing to work to not disrupt others enjoyment of the board, what's the issue again?

I think there are work arounds for many of the issues. Someone could put a sticky on a topic like The Personal Criterion thread, so that wouldn't be lost in the traffic, for instance.

In an effort to be constructive and meet the critics halfway, how can drafts be made better?

I have some ideas.

1. I think we all agree that being on the message board is a privilege, not a right. I see nothing wrong with restricting that privilege further for who can participate in a draft. Contribute something useful in another thread. Or write an essay of some substance on why you should be included in the current draft.

2. Set some minimum level of participants to justify the interest in the subject. Two dozen, perhaps.

3. Institute a rule that before you draft again, you have to write something substantial about your pick. Not a novel, but I don't think it's too much to ask for a couple of paragraphs. That will insert some more substance in the discussion thread. There still likely will be some noise, but a thread with over 100 mini-essays on various films is going to have substance.

4. Sticky the topics that people don't want messed with before the draft. Like The Personal Criterion thread. I agree that good regular topics shouldn't have to be hunted down.

Any other ideas?

I'd like to hear from Kirby if he plans on continuing his Decades drafts. I'm actually more up for the 60s instead of the 90s, but either one should be fun.

If a Decade draft isn't planned and nobody else wants to run it, I'll run through the prelims for a War Movies draft and see what I can do so that we can address issues ahead of time. Maybe time it for around the 4th of July or when G.I. Joe opens as a contrast.

We love you Kirby.