Thread Closings

[Magneto X]

What's with the hypervigilence in thread closings?

I can see closing a thread that is only personal attacks or advertising spam but, besides the obvious answers of "we own it and can do what we want" and "we want to avoid flaming", is it justified intellectually to close threads on a forum (especially as the habit seems to be doing so without warning) on the chance that feelings might begin to be hurt? Or flaming might begin? Or the topic is controversial? Or because the moderating finds the topic off track or not constructive enough? That's highly subjective. If people don't want to keep reading the thread, there are plenty of others. This seems heavy handed, rather patronizing to the sensibilities of the readers, and so subjective as to be very likely to lead to abuse.

Any explanation?


I read that: "Moderators come from upstanding and knowledgeable forum members of the CBR Community. It is their role to keep the Forums as a whole running smoothly. Parts of this include keeping discussion flowing, removing inappropriate content and settling disputes."

Threads are closed that were not requested to be closed by disputing parties, and that do not have banned content. If "keeping discussing flowing" is the allegation, simply closing and locking a tread seems a heavy handed way of going about it.

[Brandon Hanvey]

The mods of each board handle closing threads differently.

If you want to know why a thread was closed, it is best to ask the mod of the board in the form of a private message.

[Magneto X]

I'll have to check if they were mostly in one area.

But generally - it's tempting to use authority. That's just human nature. So if there is no policy against overuse of the closing or deleting power, isn't it bound to be abused by some of the mods?

[Brandon Hanvey]

Each board has there own policies on what is and is not appropriate.

If you feel a mod is going out of bounds, you can always contact a super-mod or an admin and voice your concerns.

[Jonah Weiland]

I'll have to check if they were mostly in one area.

But generally - it's tempting to use authority. That's just human nature. So if there is no policy against overuse of the closing or deleting power, isn't it bound to be abused by some of the mods?

Considering this communit has been in existence for over 10 years and is thriving, I think your concern is without merit. If there were serious abuses, I'm quite certain we'd be hearing about it.

[Magneto X]

Considering this communit has been in existence for over 10 years and is thriving, I think your concern is without merit. If there were serious abuses, I'm quite certain we'd be hearing about it.

That's a good point. But anyway, let me be the first then. Hmm. I suppose the thread closings are mitigated by the fact that it's easy enough to restart the topic in a new thread.