I'm no expert but I'd think you guys would want to facilitate discussions here on the forums.
WSH, thanks for taking the time to write. We do facilitate conversation here. What's more, we try to encourage intelligent, rational discussions.
I belong to about 7-10 various forums on different topics and I have never seen anywhere close to the number of threads that are locked on this forum.
Either those forums have low volumes of traffic; or everyone is always polite, civil and factual; or the owners of those sites have different standards than what we use to gauge what is relevant conversation. I cannot comment on the practices of other sites.
WSH wrote:I can acutally count 5 times in recent history where I was going to ask a question or post some follow up information and found the post locked.
Did you ask the Moderator if the thread can be unlocked to ask your question or post your follow up? Unless the topic is truly toxic, it never hurts to appeal to the Moderator or the Admins. But you have to ask, or else they don't know your frustration.
Here are two of the most recent examples of what I mean:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 54&t=69436
It was a railroad fatality, plain and simple. In my opinion, what else is there to talk about? Railroad trespassing fatalities happen all the time. I locked the thread to prevent the usual barrage of posts that range from empty sympathy for a railroad crew they do not know ("The crew is in my thoughts and prayers..." Really? Do you know them personally? If you do, you might want to contact them privately) to daggers and poison and "Darwin" comments regarding the trespassers ("They deserved to die, those idiots!!"). I'm trying to cut down on the time we waste with circular discussions of railroad safety appliances versus the public intelligence ("Why don't they have gates and fences and cameras and lights and sirens and police and helicopters and...").
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopi ... 36&t=68179
The moderator asked that the topic not be discussed, and he also requested people with questions to contact him directly. Did you?
I guess I'm just venting a little but it seems like the moderators around here can be a little "trigger-happy" when it comes to locking threads.
RAILROAD.NET is probably the most tightly moderated railroad forum around, and we don't apologize for that. Sometimes when we lock a topic, we dont have time to post a full-blown explanation besides a directive to "please move along." You can appeal any lock if you feel you have something important to add, just send a PM or email to the Moderator or one of the Admins. Hardly trigger happy, locks occur so infrequently that some people tend to get excited about them. Sometimes a forum runs a little "hot" for a day or two and a few toxic threads in a row are locked, and it just happens to seem like a lot. In general, we enjoy some very good conversations here, and most folks only need a gentle reminder to steer back to topic when we wander too far afield.
Hope this answers your question. PM or email me privately if you have more questions about the operation of this site.
-otto-
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