I think it's time to revive this thread.

/a/ should be about discussing actual anime and manga series. There are tons of other topics that anime & manga fans might enjoy and want to talk about, but if they are not directly related to the discussion of anime & manga, then they should go elsewhere.

For instance, visual novels. Obviously a lot of posters on /a/ enjoy and want to talk about VNs, but these are not anime or manga. Japanese VNs should go on /jp/. There are many cases where a VN has an anime adaptation, and it's perfectly OK to discuss material from the VN in a thread discussing that anime adaptation. However, it is not OK to have a thread devoted to the VN just because there exists an anime adaptation. Threads need to be about the anime.

There are also Japanese games that are of interest to posters on /a/, for instance Kantai Collection/Kancolle. These games might use anime art styles, they might use anime tropes, and they might inspire tons of fan art, but they aren't anime/manga. With Kancolle, there are manga adaptations, and there is an upcoming series, so discussions pertaining to the anime & manga are OK. Also, if a thread devoted to the anime or manga contains discussion about the games, that's OK so long as the thread is primarily about the series, and not merely being used as window dressing to discuss the game. Threads about Japanese language games like this should go on /jp/ or perhaps /vg/.

Another example of a game that some /a/ posters want to talk about is the idolm@ster series. Same thing applies. There are anime & manga adaptations which can be discussed with no issues, and talking about the video game source material in those threads is absolutely fine. Having threads about the game series itself is not. Since there is a currently 'airing' web animation series related to idolm@ster, this shouldn't be a huge issue, as they tend to stick to their generals.

There are lots of examples of things like this; tons of media and games use anime art styles, character archetypes, and typical anime tropes (touhou, mobages, browser games, ccgs, rpgs, etc). Tons of things started as a VN or a game and then were adapted to anime/manga. However, if threads aren't directly related to an anime series or a manga, then it shouldn't be on /a/.

This includes "board culture" threads. As an example: https://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/106813219/. "You wake up and you're a girl now" is a pretty common trope in anime, and there are plenty of people on /a/ who wish to be the little girl. Really though, that thread is not related to anime. You could replace the anime style fan art in the OP with a western style picture, and the rest of the thread wouldn't change. The thread isn't about anime or manga, it's just a topic which people who happen enjoy anime & manga also find interesting (in this case, gender swapping).

Now the thread could have been something like "Which manga series had the best portrayal of gender swapping?" or "Why is gender swapping a common theme in anime?". That would have linked the topic directly to discussions of anime & manga, and would've been perfectly fine. But without the thread being based directly in anime or manga, discussion is going to wander all over the place and almost certain to be completely off-topic for the board.

Obviously there are plenty of things that fall within this "board culture" domain, and deciding what stays and what goes is going to be a real minefield to navigate. Some of these threads can simply be directed to another board. For instance monster girl threads.

Lastly, there are a bunch of Japanese culture boards for a reason: to allow people to find what they're interested in more easily, and to allow enough room such that threads about niche topics don't plummet off a fast moving board without getting replies. Basically more boards = more room for slower, higher quality discussions. Cramming everything related to Japanese media on one board, like /a/ naturally tends to want, would mean an incredibly fast moving board where niche topics vanish (meaning only the most mainstream discussions survive). A fast moving board also means that in order to get replies you have to grab people's attention right away, and can't take the time necessary to type a thoughtful high-quality post. This leads to glib, lower quality comments, and the tendency to rely on obnoxious images to grab attention. Speed kills quality, and cramming tons of ancillary topics on /a/ speeds the board up. We need to get users to use the other Japanese media boards, especially /jp/, but also /c/ and /e/.

Things that should go on /jp/:
● Vocaloid threads.
● iDOLM@STER game discussion; discussion of airing or previous anime series is fine.
● Threads started about and/or primarily about VNs.
● Buyfag/Merchandise threads

Things that should go on /c/:
● Threads that are primarily image dumps focused on a particular character or series of the moe art style (which encompasses a lot of modern anime).
● Image dumps focusing on a particular moe theme, which include images from many different series & characters.


Things that should go on /e/:
● Threads that are primarily image dumps focused on a particular character or series, with the focus being on 'lewd' or sexy/suggestive poses.
● Image dumps focusing on a particular lewd theme, which include images from many different series & characters. Meaning, threads talking about a particular body part, pose, that sort of thing. So for example: https://archive.foolz.us/a/thread/106814740/

For a complex policy change such as this one, completely silent moderation will be very, very confusing for users. To make these changes as painless as possible for everyone involved, we should try to do so using modposts and locks instead of bans and deletions. Explain the policy calmly and respectfully in a single post (do not reply to or respond to users complaining, or debate the policy, or belittle posters), then direct the users to the correct board, and finally lock the thread. It might be helpful to permasage the thread for a few minutes before modposting, such that the modpost doesn't bump the thread and cause the capcode to attract undue attention. The goal here is to communicate with people who were already following the thread, not to attract gawkers and complainers from /a/ in general who happen to see a modpost on the first page. So for janitors, try to bring problem threads to a mod's attention in cases where you think it might be worthwhile for them to post.

/a/ is not going to want to change; posters on /a/ do not necessarily see the big picture, and do not understand how a "big tent" board where tangentially related topics are kosher inevitably leads to problems. They do understand that the end result of a fast board is undesirable - they experience it every day, but they do not seem to grasp that directing different topics to different boards is meant to prevent any one board from getting too fast in the first place. They will resent us trying to move content they like somewhere else, but the end result will mean slower, higher quality discussion with well thought out posts, and more room for niche topics which would otherwise be drowned out by the flavor-of-the-week, and that will be better for the community overall.

What do you guys think?