The Bronze Posting Board

Forum · Message Board
Name:	The Bronze Posting Board
Date(s):	1996 (?) - 2001
Moderated:
Founder(s):	the WB
Type:	message board/chat room
Fandom:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
URL:	January 1999 archived version (from the WayBack Machine)
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The Bronze was the message board at the official Buffy website maintained by The WB. It was named after the local teen hang-out featured on the show. The Bronze was tremendously popular. In addition to fans, many of the people involved in the production of the show posted regularly, including actors, directors, writers, musicians, and show creator Joss Whedon.

Shout-outs and in-jokes for Bronze regulars appear in the background of some scenes of the show.^{[citation needed]}

When Buffy changed networks in 2001 (from The WB to UPN), The Bronze was shut down, to the dismay of its regulars. Following its closure, several new posting boards appeared including The Bronze Beta. This board was active for a number of years, and in the early days saw posts by several VIPS who had previously interacted with fans on the Bronze.

The Bronze was also the subject of a documentary and a dissertation by American Studies scholar Asim Ali.

A Fan's 2006 Comments

People involved with the Buffy fandom should remember the Bronze. It started in 1998 (I think) on the official WB website. It was a really simple, linear message board and resembled a guestbook more than the message boards we think of today. It was all flat and new messages appeared above the old ones. There were no forums, no threads. VIPs that included Joss Whedon, Ty King, David Fury, Seth Green, and Amber Benson would stop by to chat with us. I will admit that we had our rough times, but they were generally taken care of and the nature of the board was such that if you just ignored the person causing the problem, their posts would cycle out and they would get bored with it and move on. ("Don't feed the Bezoars!")

The Bronze was relocated after the show moved to UPN, but the Bronze Beta is still active after all these years and there are still VIPs that stop by to say hi. I really believe that the ability to self-regulate and keep the scary, creepy type of fannishness to a minimum let the VIPs feel comfortable enough to come and interact with us. We'd even had posting board parties that were meant more for the Bronzers to meet up than anything else, but eventually the VIPs decided to show up as well to meet the people they'd been talking with.

FAQ

From the Bronze Welcome Wagon's FAQ:

How often can I post?

Posts are limited to four per hour. The reason for this is because near the end of the four-hour period, just before the board clears, the board gets really, really long and takes a while to load. If everyone posted as much as they wanted to, the board would take absolutely forever to load! In order to stick to this, many people will open a Notepad on their computer and write their posts on that, then copy and paste it into the Comments Box. If you would prefer a Chat Room, where you can talk as often as you would like, there is a Buffy chat room here.

How soon should I expect a response?

Partly because of the four-post-per-hour limit, many posters will save up their responses for a little while before they post. It is customary to wait about 30 minutes or so before re-asking your question. This will give people time to read it and respond to you.

How can I find out if someone answered my post after I left?

If you leave the Bronze without having your question answered, you may want to go to the Archives and do a Find for your name so that you can see if someone answered it after you left. To do a Find, go to "Edit" and choose "Find" or press the "Control" and "F" keys at the same time. If no one has answered your question, feel free to ask it again. Maybe no one who was on at the time you first posted it knew the answer!

Why is no one talking about Buffy? Do I have to talk about Buffy to post here?

As you may observe, not everybody talks about Buffy all the time in the Bronze. Especially if you are there during rerun season. We do, however, often talk about Buffy and encourage others to do so as well. Actually, one of the best ways to get noticed on the board is to respond to a Buffy topic - or several Buffy topics! The longer you stay in the Bronze, the more Bronzers you will know and sometimes all or part of a post will be off-topic. But if you want to get into really personal stuff or hold a conversation with someone, it is suggested that you take the conversation to email, ICQ, AIM, or a Chat Room. That way you can discuss your private life and not have it able to be read publicly by all Bronzers.

Does anyone from the show post here? When will they be here?

VIPs do occassionally post on the board. These are people who are connected to the show in one way or another. They post in color, which makes them easier to spot. There is no possible way for other posters to know when VIPs will show up or how long they will stay when they do come. Also, because VIPs visit the board so rarely, they are not the reason to post.

[...]

Is there any limit to the type of words I use?

This is a PG-13 board. We would prefer that you keep your posts (fairly *grin*) clean and polite. There are youngsters who read this board and we'd rather we didn't have too much of a hand in corrupting them. Apollo does edit out some words that they have deemed offensive.

Why are some of my words different from what I typed (colored/hyphenated/changed spelling)?

VIP's names are highlighted in a purply-blue color. The words "style" and "color" automatically have a hyphen added to them so that they can not be used in HTML tags - the HTML tags that include them can alter the board in ways that Apollo does not aprove of. Some of the words automatically have their spelling changed - this is so that (as discussed above) offensive words can be edited out. Unfortunately, some non-offensive words get caught in the trap, too. So, if you say that someone is "cocky", it will be posted as "****y". "Cocktails" are "****tails". "Dickens", "Dickenson" and several other innocent words are also edited. But the regulars at the Bronze will know what you meant to type, so don't worry about it!

What are some of the basic netiquette guidelines of this site?

These are basically the same here as anywhere else on the Internet, so if you're familiar with posting boards, you'll have no problem. The basics are: Posting in capital letters is equivalent to shouting; if you disagree with a post, make sure that you attack the post and not the poster; use Spoiler Warnings.

[...]

What are some other little helpful hints for newcomers?

The easiest way to learn how the board operates and what the norms are, for most people, is to lurk for a while. You may want to read the Rules of Engagement by aardwolfe if you decide to partake in the debates. Other than that, just remember to always be polite and to simply remember that we are a group of fans that enjoy the show - nobody knows everything or has all the answers. Everyone does enjoy having newcomers; the "rules" for the board are not meant to limit anyone's personality or style, they simply help keep order. Many of the regulars post during the same time of day every day (the daytime crew, the evening crew, LOSERs, Coffee Clubbers, etc.) so it may be helpful if you post during the same time slot day after day - people who are on the board at that time will recognize your name after a while.

Other FAQs & Newbie Guides

• Friend or Foe's Newbie Welcome Committee
• 'stina's FAQ
• Leather Jacket's New Poster Page
• OzFan's Newbie Information Gateway
• PB Lingo, created by Jade
• What's What of the Bronze

Academic analysis

In 2013, American Studies scholar Asim Ali published a work of ethnographic analysis centered on The Bronze as his dissertation.

External Links

• The Bronze VIP Posting Board Archive.
• Tuszynski, Stephanie. 2011. "Excerpt from 'IRL (In Real Life): The Bronze Documentary Project.'" Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 6.