Locked Threads

[Dustydog]

Perhaps I am wrong starting this thread and will withdraw if told to do so.

I’ve been a member on here many years and always found the Mods to be very tolerant and fair in all their judgements. Damian and Parksy , bless them both, have had occasion to gently chastise most of us who are still on here.
That chastisement was done privately first ,as many of you know first hand , secondly publicly if the miscreant didn’t yield and finally the thread was locked.

I saw them both as the perfect Mod with an Iron Fist ,99.99% of the time covered with a velvet glove.

More often than not the minor scraps between Forumites will resolve between the two with no blood shed.
I note on a recent case an Olive branch had been offered publicly with withdrawal of some script. I suspect the other was about to do the same restoring peace and harmony and no outstanding acrimony.

Threads locked and left unresolved imo advertise the wrong message to potential new Forumites.

Perhaps as this is the New Year and the time for reconciliation and future harmony we can all reflect, accept our parts using inappropriate language, apologise and carry on posting happily . Locked is just too terminal for me as it negates the valuable posts from so many other Forumites.

If this gets deleted I will understand😉

 

[Mel]

Thank you for raising this.
Sam and I have discussed this issue and understand the frustration when discussion cannot reach its natural end. In the case mentioned, a reminder of forum rules was given and posts deleted and edited accordingly. This, however, was not successful in getting the debate back on track and a further discussion of what constitutes “political” comment continued. This was now so far away from the original topic that the thread was locked.
Neither of us lock threads lightly but we are both conscious of the need for new forum users of to not feel that this is a battleground for the stalwarts.
Your post will not be deleted. Feedback on moderator’s decisions is welcome.
Mel

 

[Dustydog]

Good afternoon Mel.
Many thanks for taking time out of your weekend to answer my post. It could have waited.
Well that’s cleared the air hopefully for the next 12 months and full harmony is restored.👍.

 

[Sam Vimes]

I haven't run this past Mel but one of the problems I have is that when posts start to get a bit personal and perhaps one of more parties starts to withdraw or alter their comments it's hard to know if this will be accepted or will the 'I said, you said' just continue and the original point of thread get lost.

So sometimes it's just better to lock the thread and move on.

 

[Dustydog]

I haven't run this past Mel but one of the problems I have is that when posts start to get a bit personal and perhaps one of more parties starts to withdraw or alter their comments it's hard to know if this will be accepted or will the 'I said, you said' just continue and the original point of thread get lost.

So sometimes it's just better to lock the thread and move on.

Have you considered talking to the parties involved via PM?

 

[Beardy]

I haven't run this past Mel but one of the problems I have is that when posts start to get a bit personal and perhaps one of more parties starts to withdraw or alter their comments it's hard to know if this will be accepted or will the 'I said, you said' just continue and the original point of thread get lost.

So sometimes it's just better to lock the thread and move on.

As a mod, don't you have access to see what 'edits' people make to their posts?

 

[RogerL]

Another forum I use does get occasional threads very heated, more so than here - their policy is to lock the thread temporarily, message the protagonists if necessary, edit any posts if necessary and then unlock the thread later when things have cooled down

 

[Sam Vimes]

To answer the above - yes I could PM and yes I can see edits and deleted posts.

In virtually all cases when I've had to intervene its the same small core of people involved who've been on this forum a lot longer than I have. By now I believe they should be aware of the forum guidelines and also have some degree of understanding of other regular members personalities - although that can be hard to assess just through forum posts.

So sending a PM to a member who already should be aware of those infractions really shouldn't be necessary. In addition when I do intervene publicly I make a point of not naming names of those I'm refering to. They should be able to work this out for themselves. Going public with a caution or warning also serves notice to other members that there are some things that are not acceptable. Something that would not come across if I just used PMs.

Locking posts also acts as a warning to others that come to read them that some things are not acceptable. They may also still contain useful information. Usually I only delete posts if they are completely unacceptable as is the case with some Spam posts that get through.

Fortunately none of the above occurs that often.