I hate locked topics

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Some discussion I look at has been going for a while and I'd like to contribute but some moderator has decided to lock it, possibly because the discussion got a bit heated at some point.

I hate locked topics. I see these in all forums but they really annoy me. Can't you just delete the offending posts?

actually you can delete this as there is another thread on locked topics. (but delete it, don't lock it)

Time to do that is prohibitive. Reading the offending posts is noxious after a while. I don't understand the locking of posts either. Unless it is to stop the conversation from 'why was such and such a thread removed' to why was such and such a thread locked?

This has become the modus operandi to control PPR in recent weeks, surely if a particular poster has substantitvely crosed the line a polite warning would bring the post back to an acceptable level.

Disappearing threads can be confusing, though. Unless something is outright spam, it can be hard to tell if a thread was deleted or just moved, or why. While it's annoying to see a thread and want to respond to something and then see that the thread is locked, but really, for threads that are locked because they turned into a huge argument, it's not like anything you could say would have mattered anyway. Usually it's an urge to jump in and defend someone or something, and I usually have that urge for the same reason that the thread was locked. There's always an urge to respond to asinine things that are said, but if the thread has been locked, it's generally because it was quite obvious that there were antagonistic things being said. I prefer threads being locked to them mysteriously disappearing, especially if the mod who locks it says why. I don't so much like mysteries.

I don't care for locked topics, either. If something goes afoul of the rules I will make a comment in the thread, make private observations in PM or split the topic and remove the most egregious. If the the thread is irrevocably off track I just remove the whole thread. Locking seems like mysteriously taunting the members, somehow, unless there is a post at the end stating why.

Merle

I do not see a problem, and I am annoying to some..

I am an example of your point of view does not have to be mainstream to survive.

Be it economics, climate history, or hunan relations, there has been no restriction on my thought..

They are not my preferred solution; however, when a spat is spreading across multiple threads it is at times the most effective method when previous request may have been ignored. If I've locked a thread and there is a request with good cause to restore it, I'm always willing to listen and help if possible. Conversations can be preserved or continued without the vitriol or violations of site rules that have be the reason for locking some threads in the past.


M.

If it turns into a complete flame war, its difficult. The mod should be able to sort it out with a polite warning. Deleting a thread is just censorship, and thats not good for an aspie site.

What is actually bad about locking a topic is that it the same or similar topic then becomes taboo.

Yeah, it doesn't solve the problem at all.

please read this:

Congrats on quoting the rules, did you write them too? If so, was your intent in including the "discussion of locked topics" to mean topics that were locked due to whatever an admin or a moderator deems inappropriate? Or to mean topics which have gone off topic with flames or spam but not due to the subject matter itself? If the subject matter of the original post is not the reason why the topic was locked, then discussion of the same subject matter should still be allowed to be discussed.

I'm confused about why you posted that into this thread. Are you saying that it's inappropriate to talk in general about the locking of posts, so that this thread is against the rules because it discusses posts being locked?

I was wondering that too, since this thread isn't talking about why any particular thread was locked, or any particular thread at all, or why threads are problems, but simply the general idea of locking threads as opposed to other ways to deal with threads that, well, do whatever they do to get locked. I don't see that rule quoted by Alex as prohibiting this discussion in this thread. I understand it to apply to talking about locked threads, or inappropriately reviving topics from them, not to talking about the general idea of locking threads.

Personally, I agree that if a thread is locked, the moderator who locks is should post why. That will help people know what not to do in the future. It can make people feel powerless if such actions are taken with no indication why. And just because it seems to the moderator it should be obvious why doesn't mean it actually is obvious.

I think Alex was just explaining why topics get locked. But that doesn't tell me why not just delete the thread. Also why lock it and not even explain why it's locked? I have seen mods in the past locking a thread quoting the rules and bolding where they got broken. Even I don't always know why topics are locked.