New Discussion Board

Maranda has offered me yet another brilliant suggestion: why not open up a discussion board for Niggerati Manor? At first, I was hesitant; a nearly dead board is a depressing site/sight. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

This would be a good chance to take myself out of the center here, and move a step closer to the eventual goal of having this be a group site, and not just a Mat Johnson site. It would also give more people the opportunity to informally get involved in this discussion.

Now, I've seen discussion boards go bad, be co-opted by opportunist, would be millionaires and dictators, becoming stagnant pools of thought. But I've seen some lively ones too, becoming places where communities are built and ideas are truly explored (Okayplayer's board is a favorite of mine). And while I've seen a bunch of black books boards, I have never seen one that was dedicated to African American literary fiction.

So this could be really cool. Or it could really suck. So much of this, of course, depends on you. I checked the stacks, and for the last week we've averaged over 100 unique visitors and over 40 repeat visitors per day. If you want this to happen, it will. If you don't, it won't.

So here's my question to you: if I put this board up, will you join in the dialogue? If only three or four people respond to this post in the next week, I'll kill the idea.