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Threadcromancy vs. Thread Spread

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

12:13 / 18.05.06

A bit of context: I ride my bike in to work, and I often sing REAL LOUD when going down hills. Because it's fun! This morning, apropos of nothing, I started singing "Piano Man" and came to the startling realization that Young Billy Joel &?%$ RULES.

So I thought I'd share the joy in the Music forum, but, being a dutiful new 'lither, searched first and found somebody else extolling the virtues of Mr. Joel in a thread that dates alla way back to 2003, and then it was a "shameful musical loves" thread, and Joel was one of many artists thrown out there as "things I like but am a bit embarrassed about." And there are a couple more Joel "fan" bits, but always in the context of "I know it's crap but I like it anyway."

I'd like to come out swinging and say that Joel isn't "shit you like despite yourself," but "actually well-written music that wasn't shit in the first place, but you've convinced yourself it's shit because it was Top 40 back in the day."

So: more appropriate to resurrect a thread that's long dead, or start a new one with a slightly different focus?

I realize that this is a rather overspecific example, but I figured I'd give as much context as I could.

semioticrobotic

12:27 / 18.05.06

I don't really have an answer for you. I just wanted to say that "Threadcromancy" is one for the ages. Awesome.

12:29 / 18.05.06

I’m not a Music mod, but I think in this instance starting a new thread would be absolutely appropriate. Think of it this way: the conversation you want to have would effectively throw the Shameful Music Confessions thread off-topic (since you’re not making a shameful music confession).

As a general rule, we try to avoid duplicate threads covering the same ground. If there’s something you want to talk about and a thread already exists that bounds the same territory, bump it. But if you feel you would have to shoehorn what you want to say into an ongoing discussion, or if it would amount to a significant change in direction, start a new one.

Regrettable Juvenilia

12:31 / 18.05.06

New thread, I think. I'm a big fan of threads-about-artists, not necessarily as opposed to threads-about-concepts, but because the latter need to be pretty focused in order to be interesting, IMO.

(Slightly off-topic, but I'm not a big fan of the 'guilty pleasures' threads we've had in the past, because what tends to happen is that someone - possibly me, possibly one of many others - says "Why do you feel guilty about it? The 'guilty pleasure' is a rubbish concept" - and then maybe there's some back and forth about that, but essentially it's such a familiar idea that people carry on posting new things they like but don't think they ought to - 'cos the threads tend to invite lists rather than an examination of the concept.)