TBAY *grunts* (and a comment on "Long Posts")

[Saitaina]

1. We'd like to know how you perceive TBAY.
How would you describe
TBAY messages? What do you feel is the most
important aspect of a TBAY
message? What does the term 'TBAY theory'
mean to you? What, if any, is
the difference between a TBAY theory and a
regular HPfGU theory?

My basic perceptions on TBAY messages are
something to skip rather then read.  They're
too close to role-play/fanfiction (both of
which I AM involved in offlist) for me to be
intrested.  I'm on HPfGU for posts that I can
actually make sense of (as in find the point
beyond all the inner actions).

2. Do you read TBAY messages? Have you ever
posted a TBAY message? If
you have, what prompted you to do so? Have
you ever wanted to respond
to a TBAY thread but chose not to because of
the format? What about the
TBAY format made you reluctant to post?

No I do not read TBAY messages usually, I
have posted ONCE in a TBAY thread but only
essay style, and I was prompted to do so
because of the subject matter.  I have wanted
to respond many times to TBAY posts but find
it too diffrent from the style of posting I
prefer to enjoy.

3. How accessible do you find the TBAY
format? Do you find discussions
of older theories (such as MAGIC DISHWASHER)
on TBAY more or less
accessible then discussions of older theories
in regular posts (such as
Evil!Lupin)? Do Hypothetic Alley (home of
several major TBAY theories)
and Fantastic Posts help to make TBAY posts
more accessible? What can
veteran TBAY-ers do to make newbies feel more
welcome?

What the hell is MAGIC DISHWASHER?  It's
things like this that annoy me about TBAY,
but yes, I also think that the older
discussions on TBAY are harder to "jump into"
then older discussions done in regular posts.

4. What do you find confusing about TBAY?
What would you like to know
before posting? What would make you more
likely to post in a TBAY style?

Nothing would make me more likely to post in
TBAY style, I detest the form and wish it
would go away but I'm over ruled in more then
one case so I shut up and just grunt every
time I see one.  Also, as an Admin (more
specifically, a Pending Elf) I find TBAY's
hard to understand for those purposes (have
yet to find the cannon point in them right
away) so that just makes them all the more
worse to me.  So it's sort of a List
Member/Admin Member problem for me...but
anyway.

Another problem I have with TBAY is the 'old
crowd' feel of the thread.  I know, that's
not what anyone MEANS but when you have a
group of oldbies posting around using each
other's names, it makes newbies feel VERY
reluctant to try to break into such a 'close
knit' group.  You feel odd using other
'characters' in your posts for fear of
getting their words wrong and your left with
a post that you don't think can compare to
the others.

And while some TBAYers are willing to post in
either style for those who prefer a diffrent
one, there's always a chance of a TBAYer who
won't changing the setting/talk and then the
essayer's are left all confused and leave the
thread.  It happened to me and I was quite
put out as I wasn't finished talking.

I would support the idea of a separate TBAY
list (as I have said many times before) just
to satisfy both parties, those who like TBAY
and those, like me, who are lost, confused,
or just plain annoyed with the style (or any
variation there of).

My basic stand is: if you want to role-play,
go somewhere and role-play, it's not what I
joined HPfGU for and I REALLY don't thing it
belongs there.  And yes that includes TBAY.

Shaun wrote:

<I was asked to move these posts because they
were too long and some people
don't like receiving long messages.>

I don't know why this happened but I don't
belive it should have.  If a post makes a
cannon point it belongs on the Main List
regardless of length...no, wait, I take that
back.  Short posts are not allowed
(one-liners).  We actually prefer longer
posts...  This is a problem I have that I
really should bring up to the Admin Team and
not here but we seem to have a mis
communication about what is acceptable on the
main list.  *dashes over to the Admins*  The
only thing that should be "Too Long" is
"Quoted Material" which is material you quote
from other people.  The general rule I go by
when scanning pending messages is if the
Quoted Material is VISUALLY longer then the
actual message, meaning I just generally
eyeball it and if it's longer I ask the
poster to snip it down so that readers don't
wonder when the poster will get to the point.

Saitaina
*grabbing her flame shield from her
fanfiction desk to stand behind* Fire away.