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I frequently see threads where there are discussions going on and the thread is closed for no reason. It seems completely unnecessary to close the thread when there is a lively discussion going on. I understand the need for moderation but being a little heavy handed on how long a particular discussion can last is overkill. Sometimes threads are closed because they have already been discussed, other times it appears the moderator feels there is no need to be discussed further. It's very inconsistent.
Moderator cut: link to thread deleted, see comment
Last edited by Bo; 06-04-2010 at 10:56 PM..
Reason: Can't discuss specific examples in this forum. You can ask the mod who closes a thread for an explanation by Direct Message.
I close a thread when a discussion has degenerated into an argument among two or three people, if I've had to delete a lot of posts from the same posters for being off-topic, if others on the forum have lost interest in it, if members who aren't part of the "discussion" are reporting the posts and I've issued infractions/warnings to the members involved and they've been ignored.
A moderator doesn't have many options at that point, other than closing the thread, if you want to keep peace in a forum.
It seems completely unnecessary to close the thread when there is a lively discussion going on.
Sometimes that lively discussion is off-topic for the forum.
For instance, suppose several posters descended upon this thread and started swapping cookie recipes. That might turn the thread into a lively discussion of whether sugar cookies are better than chocolate chip, but it would not be on topic for the forum or the thread.
I'm being facetious here, but there are some more dynamic examples of tangents, like religion and politics, that can quickly steer a thread onto a dead-end street in Off-Topicland. If the original topic is not appropriate for a Religion or Politics forum, the thread can't be moved to one of those, so it must be closed. When I close a thread for this reason, I always explain the dilemma created by the tangent.
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