Im interested mark, do you _really_ believe that the population of CoT can support two forums? 

it seems to me that the example of Ectopia and CoT has shown pretty conclusively that even with the best of efforts and intentions, sharing yourself between two forums just plain gets dull, and people eventually choose one or the other.

now, dont get me wrong, if the consensus is that the time for CoT has passed, then thats fine...Id be a little sad, but I would get over it.....what is bugging me is that you are attempting to both kill CoT _and_ pretend that its not what you expected/intended.

If blah is successful then the likelihood is very much that CoT will die.  Thats fine....but I think you should stop pretending that you aren't aware of this.

Have the courage of your convictions.

Dood. Ectopia sucked. I mean, it sucked worse than Vanilla, and it didn't offer anything different from CoT (except the non-crashing thing).

I had no idea what would happen in the first day, I thought people would come in, look around say "sort of interesting" and leave. The fact that it grew as big/fast surprised me.

But I don't want a world with just a cloistered invite-only posters. I want a world with the wild, wooly frontiers of CoT too.

If either one dies, so be it. The people will choose, but I'll do what I can to ensure the survival of both.

"Ectopia sucked."

That's basically why I created FruitShow -- it didn't seem like the community would survive on Ectopia.

"The fact that it grew as big/fast surprised me."

As they say, timing is everything.  CoT has been seriously sucking and your forum offered a possible cure for that.

"If either one dies, so be it. The people will choose, but I'll do what I can to ensure the survival of both."

I'm pretty much feeling the same; I've love it for CoT to continue grow and prosper because I've put a lot of work into it.  But, at the same time, keeping an eye on this place is draining.  Maybe the extra mods and new features will take away some of my responsibility.

And, of course, the more we hang around here the more I want to add features to this place which I don't have time for and it makes me feel bad.  ;(

Without you, none of us would be here. You da man!

"Dood. Ectopia sucked. I mean, it sucked worse than Vanilla, and it didn't offer anything different from CoT (except the non-crashing thing). "

dont be silly mark Ectopia didn't fade out from the conscious of most CoT members because it sucked, it faded out because CoT was where the content was.

"But I don't want a world with just a cloistered invite-only posters. I want a world with the wild, wooly frontiers of CoT too. "

CoT and blah are both competing for the same content from the same users, if one survives ultimately the other will fail.

"If either one dies, so be it. The people will choose, but I'll do what I can to ensure the survival of both."

you _are_ being either duplicious or stupid.  since its you Ill do you the courtesy of assuming dupliciousness instead of stupidity.

Both forums are competing for the same user provided content from the exact same users, that means that ultimately the network effect will ensure that only one or the other survives. 
If CoT dies then so be it, every forum has its day...what is _really_ bugging me is that you appear to believe that you can both create a forum that directly competes with CoT; and whose success relies on the failure of CoT; _and_ pretend that the possible failure of CoT will be both accidental and entirely outside of your control.

stop pissing about, if you are hoping to kill CoT be upfront about it, if you truly dont want there to be a chance of that then kill blah.

wSV, you have a very narrow mind and think bad about everything you don't understand or don't agree with.

interesting.  would you care to specify which part of my assessment you believe is incorrect?

I don't want CoT to die -- the invite-only nature of Blah/Bleh/whatever it's called now means very little in the way of new blood; just think, in an invite-only world we'd never have come across McKinstry or any of the other click-to-summon visitors...

And given the poor treatment of our click-to-summon visitors, I'm not surprised that they don't stick around long.

Who cares if they stay long?  It gives us someone else to abuse for a while...

"Both forums are competing for the same user provided content from the exact same users"

I disagree. Same users, different content. It is possible a balance will be struck.

This place (& ?off) has always reminded me of the public bar in a rough pub.  Now we have a snug...

I don't think TAW would mind at all if CoT died in favor of TAW/Vanilla.  I don't think wSV is too far off base.

"I disagree. Same users, different content."

oh?  perhaps you could find an example of an OP in one of these forums that would have never been posted in the other?

"It is possible a balance will be struck."

<shrug> its also possible for pigs to fly.  just not very likely.

You guys sound like women.

Is that a bad thing?

This *is* the womyn's forum, bitch.

I'd have thought CoT was from Erris...

> I don't think TAW would mind at all if CoT died in favor of TAW/Vanilla.  I don't think wSV is too far off base.

But... a half million page views a month. I'M FAMOUS HERE!