
Originally Posted by
bobsobol
It's not just that, people lock their thread when the don't want to see the responses people give. They open a troll thread (sometimes out of ignorance, rather than malice) and lock it, then you get hundreds of new threads opened to respond to the troll.
If you can't close the thread, the responses come in-line and you delete the entire thread... job done.
Moderators should not (according to my training) close threads because users ask them to. We only close threads which have become derailed, but contain useful information. (and pinned topics to which no reply is desired, ofc)
Does that answer the question?
--- EDIT ---
P.S. Yes, we did have the ability to close our own thread after a certain post-rank... it didn't seem that bad to me, but I saw the heartache it caused moderators of other sections. So the current policy is for the best IMHO.
Think about a natural conversation between friends. What would happen if the person who started the conversation could gag everyone else when they'd had enough? I suspect they'd continue the conversation elsewhere, or just ignore the initiator. The same thing happens in forums. You don't really own a conversation just because you started it... anyone who has contributed, or is in the same room instantly takes possession of it. Once started, it is public domain, and public property.