# I don't get it???



## Lumber-Jack (Oct 5, 2014)

I'm kind of slow, but I just noticed that the "Show us yours! Wood Shed" thread is locked. I use to enjoy seeing new posts and pictures of members wood sheds in that thread, and always thought it was a good thread for people to go to to show off their sheds or get ideas for building their own wood shed. But it seem like it has been stifled now by locking the thread. I can see that the last few posts stray into the typical forum off color diatribe, and probably that is why the thread has been locked, but that thread is also a sticky (which I believe it was before it was locked).
I guess I just find it odd that this thread that so nicely shows off members woodsheds would be locked so others can't add to it rather then just deleting the last few posts that lead to it's closure. And I find it even odder that a thread that may have been locked because of a few off color posts would be left as a sticky and still have those off color post left in it?
Sorry, I just don't get it.
Perhaps it has been left as a sort of warning to the members not post off color posts otherwise their favorite threads will be locked???


----------



## Grisu (Oct 5, 2014)

Yep, the "locking up" policy is quite nebulous and that some posters can use the non-political stance here to essentially force the closing of a thread has bothered me already a few times. 

Neither do I understand the frantic locking of older threads when someone posts some new info in them. Why open a new thread all the time and then re-write the same over and over again? There is stuff that changes and is specific and some other is not. See also my comment here: https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/insurance-companies-and-wood-stoves.106989/page-4#post-1773840


----------



## fossil (Oct 5, 2014)

All the existing information is still there and accessible.  There's absolutely no reason any member can't open up a fresh new thread on the very same subject.  I don't understand what the concern is.


----------



## fossil (Oct 5, 2014)

We're mulling over the notion of a wood shed photo gallery.  Stay tuned.


----------



## Enzo's Dad (Oct 5, 2014)

Lumber-Jack said:


> I'm kind of slow, but I just noticed that the "Show us yours! Wood Shed" thread is locked. I use to enjoy seeing new posts and pictures of members wood sheds in that thread, and always thought it was a good thread for people to go to to show off their sheds or get ideas for building their own wood shed. But it seem like it has been stifled now by locking the thread. I can see that the last few posts stray into the typical forum off color diatribe, and probably that is why the thread has been locked, but that thread is also a sticky (which I believe it was before it was locked).
> I guess I just find it odd that this thread that so nicely shows off members woodsheds would be locked so others can't add to it rather then just deleting the last few posts that lead to it's closure. And I find it even odder that a thread that may have been locked because of a few off color posts would be left as a sticky and still have those off color post left in it?
> Sorry, I just don't get it.
> Perhaps it has been left as a sort of warning to the members not post off color posts otherwise their favorite threads will be locked???


 


Thats because you have the best shed here


----------



## Grisu (Oct 5, 2014)

fossil said:


> All the existing information is still there and accessible.  There's absolutely no reason any member can't open up a fresh new thread on the very same subject.  I don't understand what the concern is.



I am not sure what the concern is with continuing an old thread that still contains relevant information. But since you are asking why I am against this instinctive closing of older threads here are some reasons:

- Search for relevant info involves now reading through multiple threads.
- Replies/citations become much harder to essentially useless.
- Members interested in the topic who contributed earlier or were watching the thread don't get an alert anymore and may miss the whole new discussion.
- If members follow your advice and open a new thread you have now two threads about the same topic on page one pushing other threads down even quicker. Not to mention it is extra work for the poster.

Let's say it also this way: If someone would hack the site and change the date to 2014 in a closed thread would it still have been locked? If not, is just an older date stamp enough of a justification?


----------



## BrotherBart (Oct 5, 2014)

There are fifty wood shed pic threads a year here. That one shouldn't have ever been made a sticky.




Grisu said:


> Let's say it also this way: If someone would hack the site and change the date to 2014 in a closed thread would it still have been locked?



With the comment mess that broke out in it, yes.


----------



## KD0AXS (Oct 5, 2014)

fossil said:


> All the existing information is still there and accessible.  There's absolutely no reason any member can't open up a fresh new thread on the very same subject.  I don't understand what the concern is.



That's odd that you say this, because on most other forums (I frequent quite a few different forums) members are scolded for opening up a new thread when there are already threads on the same topic.

That's probably the reason you get people (usually new members) asking questions in old threads. On other forums they're told "use the search function" or "there are already threads on this, you don't need to start a new one".


----------



## Grisu (Oct 5, 2014)

BrotherBart said:


> With the comment mess that broke out in it, yes.



I was not referring to the wood shed thread but more generally on how to determine whether a thread should be closed or not. And just because the date stamp is older is at least for me not enough of a reason.


----------



## BrotherBart (Oct 5, 2014)

It is plenty of reason. And I have been lobbying management for five years to get an add on that stale dates and closes threads after some defined period of time. A post that drags a zombie thread out of the weeds from 2005 can drag a reader through heaven knows how many posts just to see a post that consists of "I agree.". I delete several of those every week to put the thread back to bed. It is that power mad, couldn't get a date in high school, living on the Internet in his grandmother's basement moderator thing.

Somebody has a question, no problem posting a new thread. Somebody wants to see six thousand wood sheds, "wood shed" works in search.


----------



## Lumber-Jack (Oct 6, 2014)

fossil said:


> All the existing information is still there and accessible.  There's absolutely no reason any member can't open up a fresh new thread on the very same subject.  I don't understand what the concern is.


It's not that I'm overly concerned, but as the title of this thread says, I just don't get it.
Sure everybody could open a new thread for posting pictures of your woodsheds, but that particular thread was very popular and since I was already subscribed to it I was alerted every time someone posted a new picture.  Generally this is the purpose of the thread subscription function, is it not? On top of that I don't understand why such a popular thread would have been locked in the first place. If it was the last few offending post, why not just delete those few posts instead of locking the entire thread? And as for it being a sticky, It certainly was, and still is, more popular then any of the other sticky threads in the Woodshed forum, in fact it probably wasn't necessary to make it a sticky because it's popularity alone kept it bumped near the top of the forum much of the time. It has more views then all the rest of the other stickies put together.
I guess if you have some strange moderator rule book that tells you to lock threads when they become to popular, then I guess you are doing exactly what you should be doing. I'm just trying to find a bit of logic in there somewhere.


----------



## fossil (Oct 6, 2014)

I didn't close that thread, so I can't say for sure...but I'm willing to bet that the fact that it had become "too popular" wasn't the reason it was closed.  Yes, we use the Rule Book for Strange Moderators, just as you surmised.


----------



## Enzo's Dad (Oct 6, 2014)

How about we start wood shed only thread  sticky ...no comments. It could be a great place as a resource.


----------



## Lumber-Jack (Oct 6, 2014)

fossil said:


> I didn't close that thread, so I can't say for sure...but I'm willing to bet that the fact that it had become "too popular" wasn't the reason it was closed.  Yes, we use the Rule Book for Strange Moderators, just as you surmised.


Well I understand a few of the moderators here are senior citizens, perhaps nuff said.




 We'll all be there one day.


----------



## fossil (Oct 6, 2014)

Lumber-Jack said:


> We'll all be there one day.



With any luck.


----------



## fossil (Oct 6, 2014)

I hope you asked Bart's permission before posting his picture.


----------



## webbie (Oct 6, 2014)

Lumber-Jack said:


> I'm kind of slow, but I just noticed that the "Show us yours! Wood Shed" thread is locked. I use to enjoy seeing new posts and pictures of members wood sheds in that thread,
> Perhaps it has been left as a sort of warning to the members not post off color posts otherwise their favorite threads will be locked???



Yeah, each mod tends to make their own decisions and it's for certain they all will never line up....as far as off-color posts, we do always try to keep the signal to noise ratio high. My guess is that most readers (80% or more who are not members) appreciate it that way. I always dislike searching the web and having to dig through a couple pages of "I am cooler than you" to find the part that google sent me to!

I probably made that post a sticky....when I was doing one of my experiments of taking popular posts and making them stickies. In the end, a full gallery (both personal for each member and general) is probably the best answer.....but until then, it's probably gonna be willy-nilly.


----------



## velvetfoot (Oct 6, 2014)

Deleting old threads is now policy?  One person's zombie thread is another's important info.  
I still chafe over the locking of my Hampton install thread for no good reason.


----------



## fossil (Oct 6, 2014)

Relax, nobody's deleting any old threads.  Everything is still there in the archives.  All we're talking about here is closing threads to new posts...when that's appropriate/makes sense or not.  All the existing information is still accessible through the search function, even if a thread has been closed.  Big difference between "closed" and "deleted".


----------



## BrotherBart (Oct 6, 2014)

fossil said:


> I hope you asked Bart's permission before posting his picture.



I have a new computer since that pic was taken.


----------



## BrotherBart (Oct 6, 2014)

velvetfoot said:


> Deleting old threads is now policy? One person's zombie thread is another's important info.



Re-read my post. I said I delete the meaningless* post *such as just "I agree." which puts the *thread* back where it was to start with. Eagerly awaiting you reading it someday.


----------



## fossil (Oct 6, 2014)

The above edited for clarity...Bart's regular magnifying glass is out for repair, and his back-up's not nearly as effective.


----------



## webbie (Oct 6, 2014)

I think we can all agree that "I agree with bart" is not one person's important info. 

I was taught to apply the filter - is it kind, helpful, thoughtful or necessary. Much of this is clearly explained in our mission - we do allow all kinds of "I agree" and "yes" types of threads in the inglenook and to a lesser extent in the "less important" forum rooms. But, unlike many other forums and facebook, etc - we do consider ourselves "curators" of good information which we try to set up so as to help without a lot of fluff.

I'd hope that after 19 years of doing this, that folks would understand where we are coming from. Many other sites come and go...we don't look at things that way.  We want to help now - and help in 5 years and in 10 years. 

Of course, I am not the Big Boss any longer so all policies are subject to updating and change. I suppose things will constantly change as some of us mods go away slowly into the night and new ones come on. The new ones, just like the old ones, will have a lot of latitude on how they do things...as long as 98% of the audience is happy.

There is no such thing, BTW, as keeping everyone happy all of the time. Impossible.


----------

