Closing a thread upon owners request... why?
 

The following is in response to the request of closing some of his own threads by Makman94 recently with out any appearant reason.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=157376

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=161588

In this post in the thread (just one day old!) of the last link Makman94 makes his request public and to a moderator(Hitman):

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...87&postcount=4


I've noticed this request similarly on many other forums aswel. Once a subject matter is 'closed' (answered to satisfaction) the topic starter requests it to be closed. I wish to start a open a discussion with the question "Why?".

Most often it is (or so it seems) that the thread starter decided he had enough with the subject and wanted to move on. Doesn't want to spend more braincells to thinking about it. ... Fair enough, there is a time and ending to every thing. But I cannot understand why this desicion has to force everyone to stop posting in that thread. If the thread owner never ever again shows up then that would be a pity to the regular attending crew. But his pressence is not a requirement to keep the discussion/topic alive.

If the thread is closed then the subject spawns up every now and then when a new member wants to know more about this specific thing because he once heard or has seen some of it. And now wants to know more. This creates alot more work for the search function to work through, as each mention of the mod/whatever name needs to be analysed. It also is kind of depressing seeing all those short threads with essentially nothing more than a short description by older members and maybe a link to the original. Sure, new members never heard about a search function, so most of this paragraph I wrote is moot. But wouldn't it be better to keep the discussion in the thread where it all started?

Moderators: Please keep a more reserved stance in the future when a thread-owner requests to close his threads. Keep it open for continuation. Only close it if it has started to smell of awfull things or disrupts the peace.

[steps down from the soapbox]

There's nothing that says you can't start your own thread on the same subject.

True, but why create clutter? There was noting wrong with the original thread.

Thought myself the same, but in the end I believe it is better to respect Makman's decission. He worked hard to give it to the community, and if he wants to rest and discontinue his work, it is fair to accept it like that. The thread is about a mod, and obviously as long as it is open, users can make requests and expect feedback, morally forcing the creator of the mod to step in and answer them. I remember some time ago that OLC got fed up of modding, people or whatever, and instead of requesting the thread to be closed he went to his posts and edited them to delete the contents. This created even more nonesense and made the discussion completely impossible to understand/follow. I prefer that Makman's posts stay there on a closed thread instead of A) Annoying him when the thread is bumped again, B) Make him delete everything, C) Start a potentially damaging dynamic.

But of course I might be wrong, I don't pretend to be right at all, just to do what I see best in each moment. If Makman dissapears from the forums, and/or people open many threads about his mod, we might reconsider it all. :hmmm:

Yes, valid line of thought. Hate to see that happen again. (No offence OLC , if you read this)

To my knowledge its extremely rare that we perform such requests unless the user gives us a rather compelling reason to. I don't recall ever having done so myself in my 'career' as a moderator here which spans I forget how many years now.

Anyhow I am going to punt this over to the comments section of the forum as that is more where it belongs.