30 replies to this topic

[Alexandra]

Good question -- it didn't go, though; we renamed it.  It's the Everything Else Ballet forum (and all the posts are there).  We renamed it because there have been so many times when people took "Anything Goes" literally, and would post something -- gossip, off-topic posts, politics, etc. -- and be (quite understandably) miffed when we told them that well, not ANYTHING goes.  

Board history: we called it that for purely technical reasons.  The first Ballet Talk board did not allow ordering of forums.  They went up alphabetically.  I was going to call it Miscellaneous, but thought (wrongly, I now think) that I wanted it to be first, and that meant it had to start with an "A".  And "Anything Goes" was all I could think of.

Thank you for asking, FF.

[Helene]

Thank you for bringing this up, Farrell Fan.  I apologize -- I knew there was something I wanted to mention in the announcement.

Although the name has changed from "Anything Goes" to "Everything Else Ballet," the link to the forum remains the same, and for anyone who has it bookmarked, you'll go straight to the forum.

[bart]

Thanks, Helene, for that clarification.  And for the new title.  Farrell Fan, the problem that came up frequently with "Anything Goes," was that often anything did go into it.  This new title will actually be clearer for users.  I hope that posters will be creative.

[Farrell Fan]

"Anything Goes" is an invitation to a banquet; "Everything Else Ballet," by comparison, sounds like an offering of table scraps and leftovers. I sympathize with the difficulties of coping with people abusing the banquet invitation for their own nefarious purposes, though, and trust  the new name will  insure they are never heard from again.

[Alexandra]

You make good points, FF, and if there's a way we can put a subtitle on it to make it really really really clear that Anything Goes is not an invitation to post, as one early Ballet Talker memorably did, "So, is Dancer X gay?" I'll consider it.  Thank you!

[Farrell Fan]

Thank you for your consideration, Alexandra.

[justafan]

Can I ask why you decided to get rid of the individual company forums?

[Alexandra]

As Leigh posted above:

Quote

We're putting all reviews into Recent Performances during the season in the hopes that it will stimulate and cross-pollinate discussion. At the end of the season we'll do a housecleaning and put threads into respective company archive forums for easier retrieval.

It's the way the board was organized in its first six years. We had a thread called Recent Performances to discuss performances from all around the world and we wanted to get back to that sense of community.

[christine174]

Alexandra, on Sep 3 2007, 12:03 AM, said:

It's the way the board was organized in its first six years. We had a thread called Recent Performances to discuss performances from all around the world and we wanted to get back to that sense of community.

... "sense of community"... funny, I have been missing the ABT forum community for some weeks now. I hope I can adjust to being thrust out into the wider world of BT! It doesn't seem the same.

[carbro]

Think of it as a rearrangement of the furniture.  It'll feel normal again in no time.  

It's very good to see you again, Christine!

[Jack Reed]

(from Washington, DC)  I think I can empathise with christine174:  The MCB and TSFB forums felt quite cozy, and I could quickly check what was going on about my favorite companies.  This is not a criticism, but just a thought in passing, because I have great respect for the intelligence (not to mention the industry) of the people who run BT.  We're going to seee how it works, anyway, and that appeals to my pragmatism

[bart]

Jack, remember that we'll still have separate threads for news and for reviews of Miami City Ballet, Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and every company that someone wants to write (or learn) about.  

There's still a lot of opportunity for smaller gatherings of fans within the larger community.  

[christine174]

I looked at the News and Reviews, per Bart's post, and I see it's a general news forum. Is there any place for fans of a specific company? I really do miss the ABT forum, which I used to check daily. Now whenever I come to the board I feel a bit homeless and aimless. (it was nice to get a friendly hello from Carbro, though -- I was wondering if you were still out there.)

[cubanmiamiboy]

Jack Reed, on Sep 6 2007, 05:48 PM, said:

The MCB and TSFB forums felt quite cozy,

I know...  

[Mike Gunther]

Wow! Big changes... guess I'll be reading more often, just to keep up

With the loss of individual co. forums, I wonder if the local/regional co's will get lost in the shuffle, or on the other hand they might get more attention. We shall see.

One question is where to post general comments about a specific co. - "I like co. X because Y but wish they would do Z..." that kind of thing doesn't quite seem to fit Heads Up or Recent Perf's either. Any thoughts?