Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay

Some thoughts on our board, its title, and how to preserve our history/identity

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newyearsday:
I've been away from here a good deal in the past 6 or 8 weeks, and maybe that makes my opinion less valid, but I have spent a little time checking in recently and wanted to put my two cents in for a couple of things.

First off, I saw the new subtitle (though I'm not sure how new it is) on the directory page in the forums, and I gotta say, it doesn't sit well with me to call ourselves a cyber cafe. I feel like we've always been something of a cyber campfire if anything, and that's how we've often described ourselves in welcoming people, whether here or at IMDB. So I beg the powers that be to reconsider that title...make us a campfire or maybe a diner, but not a cafe, please!

Second, I'm having a little tremor of fear go through me at how many threads have been moved around...this is something I know that has happened in waves throughout the last months, as the whole site has been re-organized to reflect the various encampments; I know it's not new. But this parcelling out of our threads, combined with our not needing to hide from trolls anymore, gives us less and less of a clear identity as a community. What I remember when the "who are we" discussions started back in the summer is that people wanted to have this board remain because of its history and community, that is, the people who have posted threads and how those posts have been the backbone of the community from the beginning.

I can understand moving the social events threads to their own forum, but the act of moving threads to the Open Forum is where it gets a little iffy for me. I know that things change and evolve over time, and certainly there are things to be gained from compartmentalizing our threads, but I wanted to voice that if we move a lot of the great theory and discussion threads begun here to the Open Forum, AND move all the social events threads, it leaves us with much less of the richness of who we have been and who we are -- kind of like only getting the beans and whiskey without the elk meat, if you will.

I do see the reasoning behind keeping the threads about the discussion of the movie and its impact in one place here on Bettermost. But I feel more strongly that the more we move over there, the less we will have of what Chez Tremblay has been and has meant to us. With that in mind, I think we should leave the rest of the older discussions here, and any new threads that are started that seem like they should go into the Open Forum should be moved there.

If the old discussion/theory threads are moved, there goes a big part of our history. There's something about
the power of place and location as a holder of history, even in cyberspace. Since Chez Tremblay has been a deeply loved place in cyberspace, it should be allowed to keep its history to some extent, especially given that we lost so much -- something like 99% -- of our first 20,000 threads. I know that moving threads to a different part of Bettermost is nothing like deleting them, but for the purposes of keeping CT's history together, each migration is a loss, especially when it adds up over time and the board loses much of its original character.

Some examples of this character are on the first page of CT right now -- Barb's thread, titled something like "An umpteenth viewing, and three new revelations" or Celeste's priceless "Huh and Hmmm: The complete Ennis Del Mar Catalog." If these were moved it might not be noticed by some, but to me they belong here because they are of this community, and they are a piece of our history that I would not want to lose even if they technically fall under the Open Forum's criteria. I don't know for sure but it seems that Barb's thread, especially, would fit in there well.

I don't mean to accuse or attack anyone in putting these ideas out there; I just wanted to have us think of what we are doing and how we want to preserve our identity and history, since we as a community get to decide.

Jenny

Lynne:

--- Quote from: newyearsday on December 06, 2006, 04:12:14 pm ---I've been away from here a good deal in the past 6 or 8 weeks, and maybe that makes my opinion less valid, but I have spent a little time checking in recently and wanted to put my two cents in for a couple of things.

--- End quote ---

Jenny,

I just wanted to say that I hear you, and you make some very valid points.  I was at BetterMost before Chez Tremblay moved here, so I don't feel entitled to have too much input into this.  I don't think I can adequately understand what you're feeling.  I'm sure that Meryl, David, Clarissa, and Phillip will put their heads together and see how this can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

What I would like to say, however, is I think that the part of your post I quoted in boldface above is 100% untrue.  You are a valued member here and contribute enormously.  Please don't think that hours spent online have any relation to how valid your contributions are and will continue to be.

Love,
Lynne

David:
Hey Jenny!

    Welcome back Darlin!

   The subtitle change was fairly recent.   It was thought by some that a new subtitle was needed to attract the new HBO crowd into Chez Tremblay.

   I LOVE the idea of calling it a Campfire!    How we didn't think of that I'll never know.    Well, i do know.   You weren't here to suggest it!    We've been missin ya Jenny.

   Not to detract from the history of Chez Tremblay, but nobody new here or the new HBO viewers coming in have any clue to why it is called that, or why they should look in here.    That was the popular thinking.

   A month or so ago the board at Chez Tremblay came to a near grinding halt.   That is when a challenge was made to come up with more posts.  This led to a barage of Quizzes and polls.     Eventually the front page of Tremblay had nothing to do with the BBM story.      That is when it was decided to move those quiz threads over to the other side.

   Back to the subtitle.    It was asked if we should change it to make it look more inviting to come in and read, chat etc.      The Cyber Cafe seemed like a good way to describe a place where people come to sit and chat via the internet.   Much like a real Coffee house Cyber Cafe.      It was also suggested to call it a Community Cafe or Cyber Community.    Variations of it were tossed around.   

   But now that you mention the word Campfire I am getting some new thoughts.
The name Tremblay is certainly our heritage.    Do we need the Chez?

   Maybe something like "The Tremblay Campfire".   Come join us around the virtual Campfire and meet fellow Brokies.

   Brainstorming always works better when you add more people doesn't it?

moremojo:

--- Quote from: DavidinHartford on December 06, 2006, 05:12:47 pm ---But now that you mention the word Campfire I am getting some new thoughts.
The name Tremblay is certainly our heritage.    Do we need the Chez?

   Maybe something like "The Tremblay Campfire".   Come join us around the virtual Campfire and meet fellow Brokies.
--- End quote ---
I too love the "campfire" idea, but would very much like to retain the 'Chez' in Chez Tremblay. Apart from its historical resonance, it has the Gallic flair that one would associate with a French name like Pierre Tremblay, who is the man being honored by the phrase.

Chez Tremblay, forever and always...s'il vous plait?

Front-Ranger:
Moi aussi.

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