They entire 15 episode 4th season is debuting on Netflix at the same time; who should we handle the discussion threads? Individual threads for each episode, or one big thread? Should spoilers be open, or closed?
Individual episodes makes most sense by far. People are going to be watching them at a different pace and having the thread be a big jumble at once of all sorts of different things from the different episodes would be awful. This shouldn’t even be a question.
If by boxed spoilers, do you mean discussing the episode in question that the thread is about? That’s silly, if you’re not trying to discuss the content of that episode, why are you in that thread? You’d just have a thread that was all spoiler boxes.
Exactly this.
Senor Beef’s gotta point. The only issue is that each episode references the other. They are all weaved together… but most people here will watch each episode twice before thinking about doing anything else in life 
If you meant spoiler boxes for discussion of later episodes, like if you want to discuss how a plotline pays off or something, then spoiler boxes make sense. But if you mean it like they mean it in general SDMB threads, where you have to actually put spoiler boxes on the very thing you’re discussing (and not outside material, future material, etc), that’s never made any sense to me. Who’s going to read an episode thread for an episode they haven’t watched yet, but want to be protected from 90% of the discussion?
Wait, don’t all the episodes take place concurrently, just from different perspectives? (at least, that’s what I’ve heard). I’m actually not sure if it does make sense to separate them, particularly as that’s a lot of threads all at once to juggle.
I think each one will die a quick death, with maybe only the final one making any lasting impressions. I think a single thread makes more sense
Edit: Plus it worked for House of Cards, why not this?
The season is going to be a complete whole, since Arrested Development is so interconnected. I’d strongly speak up for just one unboxed thread.
One unboxed thread or One boxed thread.
I think an end-date to the boxed spoilers is reasonable, like a month after release or so.
I think it should be just one thread. Fifteen separate threads all at the same time seems a little much and I am not sure each episode will be able to generate that much discussion. A single Season 4 thread seems adequate to me. I voted boxed spoilers above but I think I have been convinced that open spoilers would be okay.
One, unboxed thread.
I think most people will watch all the episodes in a relatively short time frame, and bouncing around between 15 threads trying to remember what you can and can’t say in each one would be difficult.
My vote is for separate threads for each episode, but then I never liked single threads for for anything. It’s the main reason I never played mafia on this site (GB has one thread per day). Also, I’d like to put in a giant vote for no spoilers. It’s not a mystery or a thriller, big woop if you find something out a little early. Besides, ya know what happens when we try to deal with spoiler boxes in something that people are this passionate about, we end up with half the thread spoilered, no one knows what they can and can’t talk about, more of the thread gets dedicated to talking about what you can talk about and eventually a mod, who’s never seen the show gets dragged in to sort it all out. It can only end in tears.
How about this and I know it’s not going to happen, it’s just a thought. A new forum, one thread for each episode and one thread for the entire show to discuss how things end up getting woven together (Hey, did you see how that thing from E4 is call back to that thing from E2 etc). And any other threads for whatever else people feel the need to talk about. Then after the discussion dies down and there haven’t been any new posts for a while, the threads can all be released into Cafe Society and the forum can be dissolved.
One thread per episode, boxed spoilers at the beginning of the thread. After some time for people to catch up one thread might work. Or do a poll for each episode to see how to do it for that one, along with a poll on whether we need polls to decide these things.
What the hell would be the point of spoiler boxes? I’ve never understood this boards overly obsessive need of spoiler boxes in threads specifically about a certain show or movie. Am I so unique in having the self-restraint to simply not read a thread about a show/movie until I’ve seen it?
Separate threads would be *way *too confusing, since they are all going to air at the same time.
One thread, no boxes.
I can understand with something new, and some people wondering if it’s worth signing up on Netflix to see it. So I can see some spoilers for a while. However, except for the end of The Sixth Sense or something like that I don’t think spoilers are really necessary at all. But I can see some big opening joke in the first episode of AD that’s worth keeping quiet about, maybe.
You’re one of the few. But yes, for the love of god, just don’t put spoilers in the thread title or first post and people who haven’t watched that episode yet have no business in the thread (or no business complaining about it). It get’s really old hearing people complain about being spoiled because they haven’t watched the show yet and something wasn’t boxed. I’m confused about why you’re even in the thread. Actually, that’s another reason to have separate threads. Do you want to wait until you’ve watched all 15 episodes to get into the thread or be able to discuss them as you watch them?
How would it be confusing. Each episode (or pair of episodes in some cases) will be about one character, just have one thread for each show (or character). I’d rather have 15 threads with 200 posts then one thread with 3000 posts. I hate those giant threads. They just end up going around in circles after a while as new people join in and have no interest in reading the first 20 pages of posts.
They were alive when it first aired. Let them watch it as we watched it, one episode at a time with no discussion.
ETA: Wait, we discussed the hell out of it, and we didn’t have spoiler brackets back then, either, dammit! Well, maybe not all of it.
Spoilers are dorky, especially with something that’s aired everywhere and has been on DVD for years. I’m changing my vote to a free for all.
Season thread, just so there’re no “rate this episode” polls. I hate those.
I think we should either have one season long, non-spoiler box thread or two threads, no spoiler boxes, broken up in half. One thread the first 8 episodes and the other thread all the rest. I’ll probably watch all the episodes in one day, so I’m fine with the season-long thread.
Bumpity bump.
I see individual episodes is winning. I really think that is a mistake. Fifteen threads are going to clog Cafe Society and each individual thread will be relatively small because I don’t think a single episode could generate that much discussion. Plus the episodes are all supposed to be very interconnected which will blur the lines between them anyway.
The only downside to a single thread is that people are watching at their own pace and will hold off going into the thread until they are finished but who are we kidding? By the end of Memorial Day Weekend 90% of the fans will have seen them all and a few days beyond that, it will be 100%.
Single thread! Don’t make me do the Chicken Dance!