Poll - (S)pacing the CbC discussions
 

A slowdown or break has been requested on the Chapter-by-Chapter discussions. I'd like as many opinions as possible in order to continue so that as many members as possible can participate.

One for the money
 

An excellent use of the poll function, Estelyn. :smokin:

I was the first to vote! C'mon everyone. Vote early! Vote often! (okay, that last part's a joke, but do vote.)

What might be particularly interesting is the opinion of people who have never posted in the Chapter by Chapter discussions, but who read the discussions. So, everyone, let Estelyn know your thoughts on how to proceed. :cool:

I've gone for the one chapter every two weeks option. I think its probably the best alternative. We've been at this project for about 11 months & I'd hate to see it collapse with only RotK to go.

Of course, there are about 20 chapters (including Aragorn & Arwen & excluding - assuming we do - the rest of the appendices) left to go. What this means is that if we go for the two week per chapter option it will take us 40 weeks - 10 months - to complete the project, & that's almost as long again as we've been at it so far. In other words its the difference between finishing this October & finishing next February! That's why I made my (only half joking) request that those who are requesting a slow down so they can catch up & contribute offer some kind of guarantee that they will do so - circumstances permitting of course.

I'd favour two weekly intervals, certainly over the summer when folks are likely to be taking holidays. I don't think there is any guarantee that people will catch up if we take a longer break, but to be honest, nobody should worry about 'catching up' if it's a chore to do so; it's better to drop in at the current chapter than to be altogether daunted by the prospect of so much work!

Stating the obvious I know, but it would appear that everyone who voted so far favors a slow down of some sort or the other. And I am pleased to see people voting who haven't posted for awhile but still appear to be interested in it.

Biweekly intervals- for now.

It's possible that, come autumn, it might be possible/advantageous to return to a per week system. It can come under review then. And then December, not February, would become the more approximate date of finishing.

Play by Ear
 

My vote is to play it by ear. I believe that the chapter material is what has caused the slow-down in postings, lately. Look at the most recent chapter - The Choices of Master Samwise - the thread is going nuts. I believe that all the way through RotK it will be the same.

So, how about this. Decide about opening a new thread by how many posts are on the last one. If it's more than, say, twenty, pop the next chapter open. If not, let it slide for a week.

To close, let me say that while I haven't posted much on the threads (which I primarily attribute to my not reading the chapters while they are being discussed:rolleyes:), I have thoroughly enjoyed the discussion and taken much away from it.

Whatever the choice, I will continue reading and occasionally posting.

I actually would have liked the option to vote for both the slow down and the break. ;)

Child

I would prefer to take a brief break before we start ROTK (maybe another week). I haven't had time for posting very often, especially in the CbC threads. Just for myself it would be easier to take a break, to get caught up a bit.

Then I like the 2-week interval idea. ;)

OK, here's my attempt at a Solomonic solution - we will extend the break for another week or two before beginning with the RotK discussions, then continue biweekly for the summer months. After that, I would like to try getting back to a weekly pace so that we can finish the LotR discussions by the end of the year, approximately.

I'd love to get back into the discussions. I stopped when I stopped reading it as other books demanded attention. Also, more recently, exams have been looming large and evil. But as soon as I get back into the swing of things, I'd love to get back into the Chapter by chapter.
A longer time to discus the chapters will also give us a better chance to absorb the work and really think about it, that way we may get more detailed discussions of each chapter.

I voted to slow them down to one discussion every two weeks. I sort of stopped participating, which I feel kind of sad about. I am at a point in the school year where all these projects are heaped on all at once, so I am not able to be online for leisure time as much as I would like. I loved, loved, loved the CbC discussions while I was posting on them. I definitely learned a lot...and if the extra time happened between threads, I would have a better chance of making it online and finding the time to make as long a post as I would like to. I'm really looking forward to life calming down a little bit so that I can participate again!

I've been glad to see some posting on the CbC forum, catching up on older threads. Now, are you all ready for the begin of RotK, or should I wait yet another week to start the new discussion?

I think we should start on Monday, before we forget what the story's about.... ;)

I'll second that, I'm itching to get started again. The next chapter has a lot of interesting things in it, it's bank holiday so I'll have time to read, and if we stick to that pattern then I won't miss the start of a chapter due to being on holiday. ;)

Looks like meat is back on the menu - oops, I mean, the new chapter discussion is up. Since the only two votes about the time to start coincided nicely with what I wanted to do anyway ( :rolleyes: ) I decided to go ahead. Please join in - you don't have to wait until you've caught up with all of the previous discussions. This is not homework nor required reading - it's meant to be enjoyable!

I'm someone who likes to read them. It would be easier to keep up if it was every two weeks.