ONE HUNDRED NOT OUT – come here to mark The Archers’ threads, a MN phenomenon

[DadDadDad]

First, a little bit of history. On 24 April 2013, user @PseudoBadger started a thread to discuss The Archers: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/1740045-Why-is-Lillian-allowing-this-to-happen?pg=1

It gained a life of its own and by August that year it was nearly full, so she started a second one. I notice that one of the early posts there, said “Pseudo - was that your most successful thread ever?” Oh, if only she had known what lay ahead. The chain of threads continued, typically taking around a month to fill, although at times of the highest drama threads would move fast, which explains why around 6 years later, we are close to starting thread 100.

Most of those threads were started by Pseudo, although she has since passed the reigns on, and the self-organising collective of regular posters has managed not to drop the baton.

I said above that the rate at which threads filled up fluctuated as posters responded to dramatic events in Ambridge (Kirsty’s scream-wrenching abandonment on her wedding day was an early high point, but I’m sure you all know or can guess what storyline of the past few years sent the rate to stratospheric levels ). This intrigued me enough to record the start date and number of posts for each thread in a spreadsheet, and so observe how the posting rate moved around.

That means I know that we have made between us over 95,000 posts in our discussion of The Archers. (We tend to move on before reaching the 1,000 limit). In a few months, we will reach 100,000 posts!

The 50,000th post came at an exciting time. It actually happened on 3 April 2016, the night a knife was wielded and blood (and custard) were spilt. We filled a thread in one day! And in the midst of the febrile posting, someone made post 50,000 - delightfully, it was Pseudo herself. See here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/2606356-50-ways-to-leave-your-lover-Get-on-the-bus-Gus-give-a-knife-to-your-wife-Rob-How-not-to-write-helpful-storylines-masterclass-from-The-Archers?pg=9 (post made at 22:08).

Around that time, the idea was floated of asking MNHQ for a new smiley that would reflect The Archers. Someone suitably statistically minded collected the “votes” for various ideas, and MNHQ joined the discussion: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/2603454-Bunting-the-Bull-An-Eggmobile-Other-Ambridge-crime-scenes-Potential-emoticon

In the end, MNHQ gave us this --> [ archers ] I’ve always taken it to represent the community spirit on this thread, much as The Bull is a focus of the community in Ambridge.

So, what should we do to celebrate thread 100 or 100,000 posts? Ask for another smiley? What would it be and what would it mean?
I know some have floated the idea of representing 'BOOP' which is a word users came up with (named after user BitOutOfPractice) to mean something that we wanted to praise about an Archers episode (as a counter to always being critical).

I wonder if we should just ask for a BADGER smiley, to remember our founder? Even just her unerring ability to think up witty thread titles over the years is surely reason enough to honour her. I’m open to what it could represent…

[DadDadDad]

Maybe a [badger] could just mean an acknowledgement of a bit of witty wordplay? It's a regular feature of the threads, and it's nice to tell another poster when you've appreciated a good pun etc.

[MargueritaPink]

I think , whatever the symbol is, it really needs to be called the overinfested emoji.

[DadDadDad]

Ah, yes, well all those badgers are brimming with TB according to David Archer, so maybe they represent being overinfested?

[ErrolTheDragon]

Some posters have been known to badger for acknowledgement of their puns.

[SneakyGremlins]

I've never listened to the archers but I just want to say I wondered what would happen when you reached thread 100

[DadDadDad]

Some posters have been known to badger for acknowledgement of their puns.

Only the good ones.

(deliberately ambiguous on whether I mean good posters or good puns ).

[NotANotMan]

Wow! 100 threads is amazing

[ErrolTheDragon]

There is a badger emoji 🦡 already - weirdly variable between platforms
emojipedia.org/badger/

[Efferlunt]

That’s pretty cool! I dip in and out of the Archers but the threads are always useful for questions like ‘who the f#%* are Caroline and Oliver?’

[DadDadDad]

That's why I don't use the word emoji in this context. I'm talking about the smileys provided by MN which appear consistently. By contrast, Errol , I can't see your badger (oo-er), just a blank box.

[DadDadDad]

That's good to hear, Efferlunt. You do know about Caroline, by the way?

[AlecOrAlonzo]

Love the badger idea.

For BOOP would it be Betty? Tough one.

[ErrolTheDragon]

That's why I don't use the word emoji in this context

Quite right - MN has emoticons which render consistently and are much better than the platform-variable emojis. In some cases they're unique, in other cases (like the wine glass) they're simply nicer. I'm sure MN tech could make a nice forward-facing badger face emoticon.

[DadDadDad]

Did you know that while "emoticon" obviously derives from "emotion", the word "emoji" is purely coincidental as it comes from Japanese e meaning "picture" and moji meaning character (as in symbol) - nothing to do with emotion? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoji

[Redshoeblueshoe]

Wow that's a big achievement. I was posting regularly on the Archers threads. Nearly 2 years ago I decided I couldn't listen to Pip anymore ! I do smile though when I see Archers regulars on other threads. That includes you Dad3

[MontyPants]

Sometimes not being able to sleep and browsing MN at stupid-o’clock has its benefits, as I’ve discovered there’s threads about the archers!!!! We listen every night when putting DS to bed (apart from Saturdays, grr)
Now I just need to actually find said Archers threads...

[ErrolTheDragon]

Here's the current thread - 99!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3507757-Thread-99-yes-99-Join-us-for-spirited-discussions-of-The-Archers-and-its-Top-Blokes-whether-youre-Team-Elizabeth-low-spirits-Team-Kate-Spiritual-Home-or-Team-Toby-spirits-gin

They're all on Radio Addicts, I think.

[pattyhoo]

I like the idea of a special badger emoji! One of a badger's fave would be cute but we have this one for now (guessing it's mobile only?) 🦡

[ErrolTheDragon]

The link I made upthread shows how the badger emoji is rendered on different platforms.

The google one is the right idea, but they've got the face far too rounded.

[TeenTimesTwo]

While we're talking emojis, I helped work on a project for Japanese teletext, which was called the 'Moji' project. Now I know why! All our chips had stupid names, (though often ending in IC), so I never thought to question it. We had 3 Japanese men over working on our site for a while, it was an interesting cultural exchange.


What about a bow and arrow emoticon? Or an arrow hitting a target?

[DadDadDad]

I think an arrow / archery target was suggested during the 50,000 discussion. I have a feeling it was me who suggested it in a literal-minded mathmo view of archers.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Well, that explains why I thought of it too then.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

I've taken the liberty of drawing MNHQ's attention to this thread, in the hope that they will come up with the goods.

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, Bore, I was intending to bring this to the attention of MNHQ at some point. We'll let this thread simmer, and I can follow it up when we actually reach thread 100.

[LillianGish]

I don’t think we need a BOOP emoji - a BOOP is a BOOP. and I think it is important to reference BOOP herself when booping. An over-infested one would be more useful though I also like the idea of being able to acknowledge a good pun (perhaps a punnet of strawberries - or would a punnet only be useful for minor puns?)