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Being that I rarely lock topics on my forums, I was wondering, what is the criteria for having a thread locked down here? Wally requested the View From The Middle Kingdom thread be locked after he and Willy came to an agreement. I see now that it has been locked. What was the reason for that thread being locked (for future reference), and what other reasons should moderators use to judge when to lock future threads? Just curious so that I know what the right reasons are if I need to lock one down. I always let posters self moderate on my boards unless things just get way out of control (which happened at Christian Legacies with that Vandervecken dude some of you may recall). I was confused on the Middle Kingdom thread because it seemed like a good running discussion that could have continued on if others had something to add. Thanks. 🙂
Being that I rarely lock topics on my forums, I was wondering, what is the criteria for having a thread locked down here? .... I was confused on the Middle Kingdom thread because it seemed like a good running discussion that could have continued on if others had something to add. Thanks. 🙂
My request was, somewhat, tongue-in-cheek; the thread IMHO had become a laundry list of "Oh yeah? so then...." posts with no input from anyone but willy and me. Neither of us were really presenting anything new and, as you say, we'd reached agreement (or at least a stalemate) on the issue. I had previously asked consideration of spinning the thread off as it had gone far away from the original subject... China. This is likely why there was little other input... not the topic it started out.I agree with the idea of self moderation and thank you all for letting these threads run... keeps it interesting and fresh. I just thought it was time for this one to go... it had reached its pull date, IMHO.Post script: I would liked to have edited my last post in said thread to correct the there / their spelling error in the sentence about being hunted down for doing "their job", in reference to Congress. ::)
Being that I rarely lock topics on my forums, I was wondering, what is the criteria for having a thread locked down here? Wally requested the View From The Middle Kingdom thread be locked after he and Willy came to an agreement. I see now that it has been locked. What was the reason for that thread being locked (for future reference), and what other reasons should moderators use to judge when to lock future threads? Just curious so that I know what the right reasons are if I need to lock one down. I always let posters self moderate on my boards unless things just get way out of control (which happened at Christian Legacies with that Vandervecken dude some of you may recall). I was confused on the Middle Kingdom thread because it seemed like a good running discussion that could have continued on if others had something to add. Thanks. 🙂
I apologize. I hadn't really been following the conversation but happened to come across Wally's request that I lock it, and Willy's confirmation of that. I figured that they were afraid might become uncivil and that having me lock it would remove the temptation for it to get out of control. I didn't realize that you (or others) might have been following it.So, you've convinced me (Donnie, maybe you should have gone to law school instead 😀 ). I've unlocked the thread and will leave it open to posting. I didn't have any official policy for the locking of threads and was just trying to accommodate the forum members. So, for further posting: full speed ahead! Sorry for the inconvenience...
Okay then. I do agree with Wally though, that the thread needed to be split at the 14th or 15th post to preserve the original topic content. On a side note, doesn't SMF have the capability of allowing topic starters to lock their own topics? Given the crowd we have here, I don't think it would be a problem for that permission to be granted (if it does exist that is). I mean the underlying issue is do topic starters have "copyrights" to the intellectual content of their topics, or does it belong to WCF "the house?" Given the nature of this board, being more academic, it is something we might need to consider. If this were just a goof off board centered around a fan site or Hollywood gossip, then I would say no. But since we're discussing serious subjects with intellectual opinions based on interpretative facts, I can see giving more control to topic starters.....limited control, but some. Mind you, I might toy with this idea at Writers of History but I want input first.
Okay there is a permission for granting locking privileges to topic starters (their own topics only). It can be ascribed to a member group or on a per member basis. Now I would not advise granting this kind of privilege to new users until they have proven themselves to be 1) a contributing member (say 100 posts or more), and 2) a responsible civil member (i.e. not a flaming troll). So a group say Optio or higher could be assigned this privilege. They then could prevent the hijacking of their threads by locking it. Administrators and Global Moderators can then review the reason for locking and either uphold it or unlock it whatever the case may be. Of course this can lead to other problems, but if the member gives a logical reason for locking his or her topic, there should not be any hurt feelings or what not. I believe Aetheling has complained before about topics going astray If I recall, and this is another reason why I bring it up.
I would be fine with people locking their own topics. I went ahead and changed it to allow this. I had to allow all regular members to have this permission since I can't figure out how to award it to membergroups based on post count (I may have set up the membergroups incorrectly when I first started using SMF). I think if this turns out to be a problem we will know soon enough…so we'll monitor the situation.
Okay then. I do agree with Wally though, that the thread needed to be split at the 14th or 15th post to preserve the original topic content.
Donnie, would you mind splitting it where you think appropriate? I hadn't been following the thread closely enough, so you would have a better idea where to break it up.
I would be fine with people locking their own topics. I went ahead and changed it to allow this. I had to allow all regular members to have this permission since I can't figure out how to award it to membergroups based on post count (I may have set up the membergroups incorrectly when I first started using SMF). I think if this turns out to be a problem we will know soon enough...so we'll monitor the situation.
Okay then. I do agree with Wally though, that the thread needed to be split at the 14th or 15th post to preserve the original topic content.
Donnie, would you mind splitting it where you think appropriate? I hadn't been following the thread closely enough, so you would have a better idea where to break it up.
Okay, I'll go back and see where to split it.
