save the clock tower! save the clock tow..
i mean: save the message board!! save the message board!!

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save the message board!! save the message board!!

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t214/Karen_Tom/Movies/RedShirt.jpg

No, I don't believe so. 

Facebook, Twitter, theBoard, Google+, and others all have some overlap but they also server a specific purpose.  I've received a few emails asking me if it was going away and the general line is that there are more people who just poke around it than participate on it.  So, has it run its course?

The poll was placed on the main page and the official announcement was put on Facebook.  After 48 hours (?) there were only about 20 people who had voted -- and I think it was about 80% saying that it was NOT obsolete.

Right now it's at something like 46 who say it is NOT and 8 saying that it is.  Granted, when there weren't any other methods around it was hopping, but it was also only up from Thanksgiving (which is when I used to roll out the new pages) until the day of the 'thon (back when it was just a marathon).  It's still in its off season and still managed to get 85% of the votes saying that it is not obsolete.

our complements to the message board, and regards to captain dunsel.

There are a few of us perhaps, or maybe just me, who have managed to avoid Facebook.  So, I rely on the Messageboard for my SF/xx news, and other essential SF-related news.

Don't know why this interest in ending the message board, but this is a community. Facebook doesn't cover all the things that are covered here and all the ideas and opinions are only found on this venue.Keep the board, the world will be a sadder place without it.

I suspect Garen would prefer discussions about the festival to take place in comment threads attached to postings on the main page or the Facebook page, where the conversations are by nature the ones he or his proxies start by making a post.  It's not unusual - most places that might have had attached message boards do that now, and users have more or less gone along because just maintaining one FB identity is easier than having one for each message board you might visit.

I mean, this board is only quasi-official, but it probably doesn't look great if the fest's own site tends to have a lot of comments about ignoring the "festival" part or running down the choices of premieres.  This board is kind of an anachronism in that regard, and I can see why Garen might want a more directed discussion forum.

Of course, just declaring the old board "obsolete" is precisely the wrong way to go about it; even if people have tended to migrate to Facebook and Disqus-powered comment threads, they don't like being told to leave the more open environment behind.  Now, if the front page were regularly updated with interesting articles and had a mechanism to keep popular conversations visible (like, for example, Twitch, which has jettisoned its message board in favor of this model), there might be a natural migration in that direction.  But, of course, the front page is a train wreck of dead links, posts made days after news is announced (an eternity in internet time), and Garen's frustrating personal taste, so that's not happening any time soon.

There are still a LOT of messageboards out there. They can work if they are better integrated with the main site. A tiny 2 inch picture of Shatner halfway down the main page in the left margin is hardly well-integrated.

It has been discussed.

I think the "thread" the board is hanging on is made of pretty sturdy material.

Let me just say that my workplace "supervisors" are less likely to peruse this site than my Facebook wall or some other more "public" forum.  And that is just as it should be, as I see it.
8-)

can we give that annoying option to post a messageboard posting on Facebook. if it costs money to do that let me apologize for asking in advance.
does anyone want to admit to missing the joke in the subject box? "hangs by a thread"? get it? message thread? ;D ;D ;D
come on. fess up.

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Jay Sever: I mean, this board is only quasi-official...

Sir, are you comparing this board and its members to this:

"Quasi at the Quackedero"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH7LcVNusQE&feature=share&list=PLD866636659862418 :)

This quasi-board has kept mrs. F and me up to date on such matters as ticket availability, so I could use my quasi-paypal account to transfer quasi-cash to keep the 'thon running. Further, the quasi-information as to the possible lineup gives us time to get quasi-suggestions and assemble a selection of quasi-music for the quasi-breaks.  ;)

All kidding aside, the board offers REAL benefits to interested members and curious onlookers alike. YaBB admin makes a good point as to the numbers of viewers who don't participate; after all, the 3000+ hits that the quiz, News Stories, and Youtube Goodness threads get can't be coming from the dozen regular off-season posters!

As far as the lurkers, people who view the site and do not participate in it, let me tell you the story of another lurker...

[RF inserts his life story here. Edited for content and to fit your screen.]

As Garen himself has often observed, this festival has a real community built around it. The world is awash in "buy ticket-sit in seat-tweet-go home" film festivals. This festival, and her sister in Ohio which also have active old-fashioned boards, really are something special.

Change your Profile Pic! Join the Red Shirt Revolt! Save the Board! :D

Understand:  I was one of the first to vote no and snark at Garen for his (or whoever handles the official account on Facebook's) hilarious attempt at spin ("well, the vote's running 8-1 against the board being obsolete, but only a few people have voted in one day, so that must mean people don't care about the board!").  When I saw "anachronistic", I don't mean it as an insult, but in fact as something quite different from "obsolete".

I'm just trying to figure out the forces at work here:  As much as there are still some boards left, a lot of them have shut down or become ghost towns as people migrate to the more convenient Facebook and Disqus-powered comment threads, which allow site owners to more directly shape the content of their site (whether by design or as a useful-to-them side effect), and Garen's been trying to push us toward the front page for years.

I think the results of the poll are pretty much going to kill any idea of forcing the issue pretty quickly, but I do sort of wonder if the community might be better off Facebook-friending and Twitter-following each other and interacting in a more decentralized way year-round.  I like message boards and have since they were BBSes, but that I see certain people here but not elsewhere (and vice versa) sometimes makes this seem as much clique as community, if you know what I mean.

Plus, I do wonder how much of the explosive growth of Fantastic Fest in Austin compared to other North American genre festivals is due to them really getting how modern internet communities work.  I mean, they're still around and huge while the Boston Fantastic Film Festival which started the same year but just failed to thrive.  Or, heck, look at the amazing growth of All Things Horror Presents at the Somerville while Garen's "Terrorthon" is pretty much dead.

As much as I like the message board and think it's important, I really can see why the festival would want to move discussion of it out into the greater online world versus what is effectively a private club.  I'd love for both to exist, but don't begrudge Garen wanting to move into the 21st century if at all possible.


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The world is awash in "buy ticket-sit in seat-tweet-go home" film festivals. This festival, and her sister in Ohio which also have active old-fashioned boards, really are something special.

(Puts body armor on)

Every festival's regulars think it's more special than it actually is, and there are a lot that you can put alongside the 'thon.  I mean, the community around Fantastic Fest is huge, and it's not just Austinites or former Austinites; it's people who got drawn in because love of the event spilled out of its specific community and into the virtual one.  The absolutely insane Japanese film Mutant Girls Squad exists because of people getting drunk at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Fact is, most genre film festivals are pretty far from the staid way that film festival in general are often assumed to go down.  The 'Thon is a pretty fantastic one, but the attitude that it's incredibly unique with almost no room for improvement is kind of frustrating.

In general, does keeping the message board hurt anyone? Isn't it just like anything else, where if people don't like it they can choose not to view it?