I Want To Know

[Nova]

Exactly which moderator took it upon themselves to rename my thread from "Photos of Pandora" to "I Want Pandora Photos". Not that it's a big change, but it makes me look very fucking impatient, whereas the thread was asking whether or not such photos existed, not me demanding said photos.

I also want to know why it was locked, and the conversation was not allowed to run its course and die when the topic became old.

Mods (Especially (Mostly) V-Chip): Quit locking threads just because you have the power to do so. It's stunting the quality of the conversation here. I'm not going to harp on about free speech again, but this time it's not mindless babble, but topics that people actually give a damn about. It's not hurting you leaving the thread open, If it's locked, it's still taking up the space that it was when it was open.

If you really can't stand the influx of newbie questions, open a Frequently Asked Questions board underneath General, where people can feel free to ask all the things that have been asked before, and not be scared to open a new thread which big bad Chip could come along and close, just because the initial question was answered.

 

[Chip]

I changed the title, because yours was misleading. I didn't lock it though.

I have never locked a thread "just because" I can. I had only been locking threads once got out of hand, but with the influx of new users yesterday, I decided to lock the most redundant ones before they got out of hand. I've already explained why I'm doing it, not that I have to. I'd love to let threads die of natural causes. But since some people just can't help themselves when it comes to painfully drawing out threads that have long since outlived their usefulness, sometimes a little moderator-assisted suicide is in order.

Here's what I want to know: What exactly about the threads that I closed do you find so compelling that they should be left open? I've told you why they should be closed, so tell me why they shouldn't. If we've already had six conversations about media players for the Pandora, do we really need a seventh? Especially when that seventh basically starts out with "Hay guyz, does pandora play videos?" When there's an open, stickied thread about potential emulators with 20 pages of replies, are more threads asking "Is emulator x going to work?" likely to go anywhere but down in flames?

And you're going to have to come up with something more substantial than "It's stunting the quality of the conversation here." Even you can't claim that half a dozen posts complaining about how nobody bothers to search is "quality conversation".

 

[sam fisher]

I'd love to let threads die of natural causes. But since some people just can't help themselves when it comes to painfully drawing out threads that have long since outlived their usefulness, sometimes a little moderator-assisted suicide is in order.

Um, why does a topic need to die? Suppose someone else has a similar question why is it wrong to bump up an old relevant topic with a post that is that question? Why do you have to ensure the topic is dead?

Yes, if its full of flames then by all means close it. However, you do seem to close topics as soon as a question is answered with the reason stated as "Topics question is answered". Sometimes not all questions have absolute answers and someone else could have something useful to add by they cannot as it is already locked.

 

[Squidge]

I locked it as the topic was answered officially by Craigix, and the replies were no longer about the original topic.

 

[Chip]

Um, why does a topic need to die?
...
However, you do seem to close topics as soon as a question is answered with the reason stated as "Topics question is answered". Sometimes not all questions have absolute answers and someone else could have something useful to add by they cannot as it is already locked.

By "Die a natural death" I mean fall off the front page. There is no need to post over and over in a thread without adding any new information, but people seem to do it a lot. Those posts are usually unhelpful at best, and downright combative at worst. When there is nothing useful to say, the smart thing to do is not say anything. Unfortunately, some users here aren't very smart. So, I close threads.

If new information arises, then it can be posted. It's not as though I've removed the New Topic button :rolleyes:

 

[sam fisher]

Sometimes it is a waste to make an entire new topic over a piece of information that is highly related to something else?

 

[mindlord]

I am going to have to side with the horde on this issue. A topic should be left to die on it's own. If a question is satisfactorily answered it will quickly slip of the front page and die on it's own without moderator intervention. Leaving topics open allows the community to brainstorm and perhaps come up with new insights into problems and issues. Sure there will be some hostile or stupid comments, maybe even *gasp* misinformation, but if the topic is closed before people can really talk about it you're doing the forums a dis-service by limiting people's ability to talk things out freely. Just leave them open, so people CAN discuss. You should not just close a topic just because it MIGHT degenerate into something that should be locked.

I present an Sim City analogy:
You can have a well formed city that makes money every year and everything is going just fine. You might have some small areas of crime, but no city is a utopia. So you decide, I'll just bump the police funding up to max, and that should take care of the problem, right? Not the case. The police really start doing their job alright. They start giving out tickets to every Jay-Walker and Stop sign runner they see, while the small pockets of crime still operate under the radar. The average denizens become unhappy with the police-state you've created and no problem has been solved. Even worse, the average citizens start committing crimes to distract the police so people can live their lives without being accosted by the patrols.

I understand your argument, Chip, I really do. You aren't doing anything really wrong, and you're doing a fine job, but there is such a thing as doing it too well. Relax, ok? Right now you're handing out tickets to every Jay-Walker you see, and you don't need to. The response was a bunch of people started Jay-Walking in protest.

 

[Cew27]

I changed the title, because yours was misleading. I didn't lock it though.

I have never locked a thread "just because" I can. I had only been locking threads once got out of hand, but with the influx of new users yesterday, I decided to lock the most redundant ones before they got out of hand. I've already explained why I'm doing it, not that I have to. I'd love to let threads die of natural causes. But since some people just can't help themselves when it comes to painfully drawing out threads that have long since outlived their usefulness, sometimes a little moderator-assisted suicide is in order.

Here's what I want to know: What exactly about the threads that I closed do you find so compelling that they should be left open? I've told you why they should be closed, so tell me why they shouldn't. If we've already had six conversations about media players for the Pandora, do we really need a seventh? Especially when that seventh basically starts out with "Hay guyz, does pandora play videos?" When there's an open, stickied thread about potential emulators with 20 pages of replies, are more threads asking "Is emulator x going to work?" likely to go anywhere but down in flames?

And you're going to have to come up with something more substantial than "It's stunting the quality of the conversation here." Even you can't claim that half a dozen posts complaining about how nobody bothers to search is "quality conversation".



chip i dont want to be offensive but you did lock my post on n64 emulation rather fast, i still had questions to ask

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

chip i dont want to be offensive but you did lock my post on n64 emulation rather fast, i still had questions to ask

I was totally going to stay out of this thread, but this comment made me change my mind.


Basically, are you serious? Use common sense before asking stupid questions, and moderators won't lock your threads.

 

[Cew27]

/me retracts comment and hides

 

[Chip]

Basically, are you serious? Use common sense before asking stupid questions, and moderators won't lock your threads.

And responses like that are exactly why I locked it.

In a perfect world, nobody would jump all over new users for posting questions they could have easily found the answers to themselves. I could leave all redundant threads open, secure in the knowlege that nobody would be chased off for their naivete. If you have further N64-related questions, there is an open N64 thread still on the front page, and there is always the emulators sticky.

Of course, in a perfect world, everybody would search for their answers and not ask redundant questions in the first place. Oh well, c'est la vie.

 

[sam fisher]

And responses like that are exactly why I locked it.

Well, delete the problem posts, ban the problem members for 24 hours and send them a PM telling them why they have been banned. If they do it three times then a more serious ban is in order. I didn't like being banned for a very long time but it has certainly stopped me randomly hurling insults at people and such. Growing up a bit has helped there aswell.

 

[Ganepark32]

Seeing as the title is appropriate to my question I'll just post it here: What the hell is the matter with everyone? Over the last few weeks, this particular section of the forum has turned into anarchy with users trying to take on the Mods and challenge them over their running of the place. I personally do not see any problems with the way the forums (and the off topic in general) are run. The problem obviously runs a lot deeper than just attacking mods for closing threads. So why is it?

Seriously. If you are unhappy with the constraints placed on you here, then there are other places you could go to voice an opinion or such but from my experience, this is probably one of the most leaniant (sp?) forums there is. I'm not brown nosing here by any means. I do feel that some threads should be left open and left to die until such time that someone has a similar question that they need to ask and so they can use that thread instead of creating a new one. But I do feel that some people should grow up and quit with the arguing. There really isn't any need for it. If you have a particular complaint about someone, don't start creating topics to have a go at the person. Either go to them directly and talk to them or tell a mod. But for the life of christ, don't just simply insult the person through PMing either as that just shows real immaturity.

Sorry for the rant. It just seems that this place has realy gone to the dogs lately and I would kindly like to know why.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Of course, in a perfect world, everybody would search for their answers and not ask redundant questions in the first place. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Mr. Sandman, bring 'em a dream, infared light beams
Homicide scene, Perfect World
By any means get cream
Just don't let it come between you and I, see
Everything is everything in this three ringed, circus
Peoples is swift, tryin' to work us, Lord
with devil worship and satanic verses
It takes place in the world, Perfect, mine and yours

 

[Orkie]

tell a mod

I rather think they were .

 

[Rico]

Locking the threads is a form of newbie babysitting. Close the thread and they can't possibly post, even if it might be pertinent information. It's better in the long run that they are taught to search for relevant thread and keep discussions on-topic.

In addition, new threads are constantly made all the time, and the effort required to keep checking them and closing them is a pain considering the majority die of natural causes.

Locking threads insults the intelligence of the user base and, worse, makes no attempt to improve their intelligence. It also requires constant maintenance. Maybe you are willing to deal with that effort now ...but will you six months, twelve months down the line? Would it not be easier to wait for derails and off-topic posts and deal with those few users directly?

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

I'm actually going to do something I don't do very often and close this as Nova's question has been answered.

All that's left in this thread is possible bitching and I'm stopping it here before it really starts and gets out of hand.