Closed threads

Seems to me like there are more closed threads on this forum that any other forum I frequent. I always figured that with photography being such a "subjective" subject, there are going to be (many?) times when one observer's (or artist's) opinion will conflict with another's. The usual result of one not being able to express an opinion/criticism without becoming offensive, or not being able to receive another's opinion/criticism without becoming offended, is degradation of playtime in the sandbox. Someone, or someones, get a timeout and the thread is closed. The Admin or Mod doing so usually makes a short post as to his/her reason for doing so.

Viewing this as it happens, or afterwards, gives us all (or at least all minus two) an opportunity to get a brief education on community relationships and how to sustain them. Or, how not to.

Be that as it may...

Usually, I can read through a closed thread and it's obvious that someone peed in another's Kool-Aid and the closure of the thread was warranted. Just recently however, I noticed there were several threads closed. I couldn't discern a reason and there was no final mod's post in the thread with an explanation. I'm frequently slow on the uptake about the games people play, but I am curious as to what happened.

Perhaps the Admin or a moderator can clue us (me) in. Is it simple as the ability of the originator of a post being able to close his own thread? If closed by the Admin or mod, that final post from the "burning bush" may be necessary to explain it for dummies like me.

Only speaking for myself but as admin on my own forum i would not wish to explain my actions at a later date,the relevant action would have been taken and that would be the end of the story,explanation post or not.

mikew said:

Only speaking for myself but as admin on my own forum i would not wish to explain my actions at a later date,the relevant action would have been taken and that would be the end of the story,explanation post or not.

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Ditto, we do not explain why on a site I help moderate as well. You can rest assured it was done for a good reason, usually for a violation of forum policy.

Personally I like hanging out on a forum that doesn't allow conversations to morph into extended brawls. I trust their judgement here and am glad they stay on top of things. For those who want to be controversial, there are LOTS of other forums that will allow you to throw a punch...or two or three.

I might as well jump in now. We have had some members that cross the line of decency on a number of occasions. We have a system of infractions that we give members that do cross that line. We all believe that those infractions are best kept private. Some times a simple infraction/warning is enough to get them back to being a good productive member of the community and sometimes it just might send then over the edge and then they get banned. I personally think that it does no good to air that dirty laundry so that is why we normally remove the offending post and close the thread.

I hope that helps you understand why we do what we do.

It's sometimes tricky in deciding when to stop or delete a thread. You don't want to lose any useful info that may have been in thread. And you don't want to loose any members. It's a crap shoot for sure. And often it's all up to interpretation. Being a good mod is hard. And it looks like this group has it well under control.

I'm the New Guy on the Moderation team but I just wanted to amplify Don's comment and say that I don't see threads getting closed, or members being sent a reminders about forum rules, policies, etc., without there having been some discussion amongst the moderation team first. What I mean to say is, things like thread closure and such are not done lightly. While all the users may not always see the decision making process, there most definitely IS a process.

PhotoAV8R said:

Seems to me like there are more closed threads on this forum that any other forum I frequent.

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I've been here about six months and frequent the forum quite often (daily), and the only times I've observed thread closures is when you have an individual who is obviously new to the forum and attempting to sell something on his 1st post. There was another time when an individual post was venting some uncalled *stuff* - nobody wants to read that - and it was closed right away, thankfully.

One thing I'm wary about in any forum is brand bashing, or trolls hyping some other brand at the expense of another, but other than some frustration with the d600 there has been none of that - even that discussion is well under control.

As far as spirited discussions go, conducted in the proper venue, there seems to be quite a bit of leeway and I haven't seen a closure even during some political discussions.

I think members are allowed to express themselves, but this forum is about people taking photographs, sharing them and discussing photography. Not sure what else you want, but the atmosphere is spot on to me.

FWIW

Like Mike said, a reason for moderator or Admin action is not always given. Sometimes the reason is obvious and sometimes a warning is given privately to a member. But there are several reasons to close threads. 1 arguments gotten out of hand despite being warned. 2 Topic is has no real purpose other than inflaming other members. 3 Topic is being used to draw members away from forum. 4 topic has been used to insert blatant or even subtle references to a competitor brands of a brand or brands the forum was created to follow.

These are just examples, and there can be more. But the moderators and the Admins only have to answer to the Owner/Admin , and any posted reasons for actions are often left up to the the staff's choice. As an Owner/Admin of my own site, I state certain basic rules to follow and a choice of responses for my Mods and Admins to choose from based on their judgment of each offense or issue. Notification is often just given to the offender and if it applies to the threads original starter.

Anyway, I'm sure there was a reason, and I'm sure the staff followed the guidelines in dealing with the issues.


Ooops I posted slooooow! Lol

More often than not, when we close a thread we also remove the offending post especially if it does not add anything to the discussion.

Bill16 said:

Like Mike said, a reason for moderator or Admin action is not always given. Sometimes the reason is obvious and sometimes a warning is given privately to a member. But there are several reasons to close threads. 1 arguments gotten out of hand despite being warned. 2 Topic is has no real purpose other than inflaming other members. 3 Topic is being used to draw members away from forum. 4 topic has been used to insert blatant or even suttle references to a competitor brands of a brand or brands the forum was created to follow. These are just examples, and there can be more. But the moderators and the Admins only have to answer to the Owner/Admin , and any posted reasons for actions are often left up the the staff's choice. As a Owner/Admin of my own site I state certain basic rules to follow and a choice of responses for my Mods and Admins to choose from based on their judgment of each offense or issue. Notification is often just given to the offender and if applies to the threads original starter. Anyway, I'm sure there was a reason, and I sure the staff followed the guidelines in dealing with the issues. Ooops I posted slooooow! Lol

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The moderators also have a chat box that we discuss these matters in and that helps us to discuss these matters in and many times come to group decisions. Keeps it a little fairer.

We keep our team to an odd number then if we are split over a decision we go with the majority decision,although we prefer unanimous.

mikew said:

We keep our team to an odd number then if we are split over a decision we go with the majority decision,although we prefer unanimous.

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All of our moderators are odd so it all works out.

Don Kuykendall said:

All of our moderators are odd so it all works out.

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Didnt want to say that for fear of getting banned

So that is why I always felt at home here! Lol

Don Kuykendall said:

All of our moderators are odd so it all works out.

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After reading the replies, it looks like I wasn't clear. I was in no way implying that any thread had been closed without justification, or that some threads should not have been closed. It's just that a few I read recently appeared benign and then, poof, were closed.

For example, the thread, http://nikonites.com/d600-d610/18129-d610-owners;-satisfied.html#axzz2lfzmKheT

What caused that thread to be closed? As I said, I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, but what rule was broken here? A question had been asked, a few replies given, but the question still stood.

Mike said above, "Only speaking for myself but as admin on my own forum i would not wish to explain my actions at a later date,the relevant action would have been taken and that would be the end of the story,explanation post or not."

It may be semantics, but I'm not asking for an explanation at a later date - just at the time the thread was closed. I believe a mod should be able to articulate the reasons for his/her actions. I also believe the members deserve this explanation.

BWTHDIK

Sometimes there is a clean-up in aisle 3, but Walmart doesn't need to advertise it after the fact. Translation...sometimes the questionable comments are either edited or deleted and the thread is closed to end any animosity--which is usually the reason why a thread is closed. When you are late to the party, you may not find the delicious, savory appetizers because they are usually long gone....

It looks to me as if the original question was not able to be answered at this time, and the thread changed to no longer fit the original subject. So the original subject become lost and becomes unrelated. So a new thread should be made to fit the new subject, or the poster should find a existing thread on the new subject.
This is just my guess, since I am not on staff here.

PhotoAV8R said:

After reading the replies, it looks like I wasn't clear. I was in no way implying that any thread had been closed without justification, or that some threads should not have been closed. It's just that a few I read recently appeared benign and then, poof, were closed.

For example, the thread, http://nikonites.com/d600-d610/18129-d610-owners;-satisfied.html#axzz2lfzmKheT

What caused that thread to be closed? As I said, I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, but what rule was broken here? A question had been asked, a few replies given, but the question still stood.

Mike said above, "Only speaking for myself but as admin on my own forum i would not wish to explain my actions at a later date,the relevant action would have been taken and that would be the end of the story,explanation post or not."

It may be semantics, but I'm not asking for an explanation at a later date - just at the time the thread was closed. I believe a mod should be able to articulate the reasons for his/her actions. I also believe the members deserve this explanation.

BWTHDIK

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Actually, I think it is standard practice at other other forums I frequent for the mods to give some indication/warnings in line with the thread of imminent closure prior to or directly at the time of the event. In practice I've rarely seen a thread, or individual posts within the thread, disappear even after the closure.

On the other hand, I placed a personal request to jdeg for the removal of one of my posts that afterwards I regretted posting and wasn't able to delete myself, and he graciously accomadated me.

I was following the d610 thread and recall it was rather benign, and the op created another thread he is actually preparing to buy a d610.

As a general practice I agree there should be an indication of why a post was deleted.

PhotoAV8R said:

After reading the replies, it looks like I wasn't clear. I was in no way implying that any thread had been closed without justification, or that some threads should not have been closed. It's just that a few I read recently appeared benign and then, poof, were closed.

For example, the thread, http://nikonites.com/d600-d610/18129-d610-owners;-satisfied.html#axzz2lfzmKheT

What caused that thread to be closed? As I said, I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, but what rule was broken here? A question had been asked, a few replies given, but the question still stood.

Mike said above, "Only speaking for myself but as admin on my own forum i would not wish to explain my actions at a later date,the relevant action would have been taken and that would be the end of the story,explanation post or not."

It may be semantics, but I'm not asking for an explanation at a later date - just at the time the thread was closed. I believe a mod should be able to articulate the reasons for his/her actions. I also believe the members deserve this explanation.

BWTHDIK

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Bill16 said:

It looks to me as if the original question was not able to be answered at this time, and the thread changed to no longer fit the original subject. So the original subject become lost and becomes unrelated. So a new thread should be made to fit the new subject, or the poster should find a existing thread on the new subject.
This is just my guess, since I am not on staff here.

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Bill, in my experiencing when a thread wanders off course, the mods will typically bring it back in line, if that's standard practice. Most forums let 'em run whatever direction they take. Going off course alone wouldn't be a reason to close the thread. The thread would need to take a real nose dive into the negative zone.

I agree with you often people repeat threads/subject matter which may be a reason to close or combine a thread, but there is typically an indication why is was closed or combined.