Please close as few topics as possible...

[andyrkki]

... as someone may still want to reply later on. Just a request.

[geodave]

Sometimes a topic is just played out...and we do have certain members who open a lot of topics....and I just figured out how to close them!

[jblewis]

The only occasions on which I close topics (besides something inappropriate) are if they are for a very specific need that has been addressed and needs no further discussion (e.g. the "James" thread).

[M11k4]

I think the locking of topics is currently not too much, like it might have been at some point.

[BigOto2]

What do you guys think about bumping really old threads vs. creating entirely new topics? I personally think if the thread is still relevant it should be bumped while if it represents outdated info in any form and has no hope of being edited, a new thread should be created.

[Flareon350]

What do you guys think about bumping really old threads vs. creating entirely new topics? I personally think if the thread is still relevant it should be bumped while if it represents outdated info in any form and has no hope of being edited, a new thread should be created.

Ah yes bumping threads. I too was wondering about this. Personally it's not much of a problem for me anymore Back in my pokemon community forum days, bumping threads was a HUGE deal to me for some reason. LOL

[jblewis]

I think it's preferable to creating new threads about the exact same topic, to be honest.

[M11k4]

If the conversation has gone off topic too much in the thread and it is otherwise over something like two months old, I would rather see a new thread.

[BitBuster]

I'm also in favor of the new threads; in my experience, forums that have a lot of rules like "Don't start a new thread if one about your topic already exists" tend to be fairly hostile towards newbies. There's also a level of elitism there that I think we'd like to avoid.

I'm with [OP] about not locking threads. I mean, in the case of the James thread, who else was going to reply to it? If a thread's truly played out, it's going to die on its own. Locking threads (apart from obviously offensive ones) just seems to create a rift between mods and non-mods. Even if there's no harm intended or done, it still reinforces something of a class system that the best forums go out of their way to avoid.

Just my opinion, of course.

[KeyboardWielder]

I agree. Basically, I don't see any advantage to locking threads. The considerations that go into deciding when to create a new thread apply to unlocked threads as well.

- Madhav.