Mods closing threads...

jamesbondings

Im sorry if feedback is the wrong place for this im just confuddled!

I wondered if Mods should/need to say as to why they have closed a thread?
Is there specific guidlines on such a thing?

I only ask as twice today i noticed two threads which I was quite enjoying, being closed by Mods with little or no reason. Now im not trying to say the Mods were wrong, im sure there were very valid reasons but id like to know if possible why? Nothing obvious jumped out at me anyways.

Cheers

Orion

Need to - no.

Should - depends.

If a thread is closed it's for good reason. If it's a thread in AH, for example, about Dublin Bus, for example, which had descended into complete farce then I'd guess the reason for it being closed would be self evident.

jamesbondings

Fair enough so, id make an awful mod i enjoyed it and cant see why it was closed but sure thats just me....

Cheers for answering anyways!

Steve

The joys of a benevolent dictatorship...

biko

It's personal preference and I always add a closing post, just as an explanation.
You can try PM the mods of the forum.

I gave a closing note in that thread [Dublin Bus]. I banned the OP for trolling and closed it because its basis was a picture which was a fake. Not sure how that was viewed as little or no reason tbh.

P_1

Personally I think it's best when a reason is given for closing a thread, sure it can be slightly annoying when it's done but it's better to see the reasons for it being closed rather then having to wonder why it was.

Deleted User

To clarify.

This was the closing post in the dublin bus thread.

Deleted User wrote: »

OP banned for 2 weeks for trolling.

Thread closed because picture is a load of nonsense.

The picture was a fake, as a result, we ended up with a thread discussing Dublin Bus Drivers not protecting passengers (based on a fake picture), and a "social welfare scroungers" thread. The former is a grossly unfair accusation (did I mention the pic was a fake?) and the latter has been done enough times without dragging Dublin Bus into it.

I cannot think of a single, solitary reason, to have left that thread open - however I understand that's not what this feedback thread is about so to answer the question:

In the most cases I agree a reason should be given, however there are times when you sit looking at some of the utter tripe that is posted and there genuinely are no words.

Beruthiel

jamesbondings wrote: »

I wondered if Mods should/need to say as to why they have closed a thread?
Is there specific guidlines on such a thing?

There is no requirement for a Mod to give a reason, especially if it's blatantly obvious.

However, it's probably better to do so in order to avoid receiving irate PM's demanding to know why that fantastically informative, useful and helpful thread was closed.

Black Swan

Beruthiel wrote: »

There is no requirement for a Mod to give a reason, especially if it's blatantly obvious.

However, it's probably better to do so in order to avoid receiving irate PM's demanding to know why that fantastically informative, useful and helpful thread was closed.

Agree. Taking a minute to add a closing comment tends to reduce mod work answering PMs (and threads such as these), especially if the thread has several posts before closing. It also provides feedback to all members reading the closing comment, so that such inappropriate threads are reduced in the future.

Fluorescence

Tbh I'm struggling to think of a single example where a thread's been locked with no closing post to state why. While it's not a requirement, it's something pretty much every mod does as a matter of courtesy/convenience to all involved.

Chances are if you've spotted a locked thread with no closing post, it's only *just* been locked and the mod is typing up a post at that moment

Beasty

Sometimes it may simply be inappropriate to provide a full explanation

I closed one recently because some pretty serious allegations had been made in a reported post. However it was not a forum I modded, and the local mods were not available. Because I was unfamiliar with the forum and it's regulars I could not be certain whether it was a case of banter that had got out of hand or something more sinister. Hence I closed it simply adding a note that I was closing it to allow the local mods to review the thread without further explanation.

It was clear that it was me that closed the thread and anyone who had questions could PM me if they wished

jamesbondings

Thanks for all the info!

I am much wiser for it..... I just want to say i didnt start this as a Mod bashing thread of any description and i agree completeley with whats been said thus far, I very rarely read a thread until its been closed so wasnt sure as to what actually happens!

What i have learned essentially is that it is ok to PM a mod in relation to such a thing. I was (before this thread) of the opinion that to do so may seem accusing or argumentative and as such may have repercussions!

Thanks again guys!

Jamesbondings

Femme_Fatale

When it's not obvious why the thread is being closed (often it's really really obvious in fairness) there should be a closing note; rude not to write one IMO.

Dades

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

When it's not obvious why the thread is being closed (often it's really really obvious in fairness) there should be a closing note; rude not to write one IMO.

Sometimes what is obvious to most isn't obvious to some, I guess. In those cases an individual user might not know what was going on.

Best practice is where there's any ambiguity to post a line.

jamesbondings

This, i genuinely still, after reading the thread back had no idea (bar the banned poster) happened.. But thanks for clarifying guys much appreciated!

Orion

jamesbondings wrote: »

What i have learned essentially is that it is ok to PM a mod in relation to such a thing. I was (before this thread) of the opinion that to do so may seem accusing or argumentative and as such may have repercussions!

That's a good lesson to learn - mods are people too I, for one, have no problem getting a PM from anyone to ask why I did or didn't do something. If that PM is asking a question about a mod action that's fine - in fact that's what we request is done - and if it's a rational PM then there's no way I'd think of it being argumentative or accusatory.

padd b1975

Orion wrote: »

If a thread is closed it's for good reason. If it's a thread in AH, for example, about Dublin Bus, for example, which had descended into complete farce then I'd guess the reason for it being closed would be self evident.

Self evident to regular users of the site? Yes.


New and occasional users? Not self evident at all I would think.


A one line explanation really is not a lot to ask for.

nesf

Even when it's obvious a short note is a good idea. Not everyone will read through the whole thread and understand why it was closed, or have the time when it's a very long thread.

Mainly I think locking notes are important for new members so they can get a grip on where the lines are in the different forums. What might be obvious for regulars might be very opaque for someone who hasn't been around for long.

OldGoat

Where circumstances allow most mods tend to add a closing note. However, being on a mobile, with poor connections, standing on a crowded train, with a driver who likes to brake hard/accelerate hard, and having fat fingers while holding an umbrella and 3 bags makes it unlikely that ALL closed threads will have a closing message attached. Trying to make this a mandatory task would be a futile exercise. There is more then enough recourse for posters to dispute closed threads if they so wish.

nesf

OldGoat wrote: »

Where circumstances allow most mods tend to add a closing note. However, being on a mobile, with poor connections, standing on a crowded train, with a driver who likes to brake hard/accelerate hard, and having fat fingers while holding an umbrella and 3 bags makes it unlikely that ALL closed threads will have a closing message attached. Trying to make this a mandatory task would be a futile exercise. There is more then enough recourse for posters to dispute closed threads if they so wish.

There's nothing stopping the mod putting the note in once they're on a more stable connection/platform for typing to be fair. It's an annoyance but it's fairly important, especially in the more contentious forums like Politics where you really don't want any ambiguity about why the thread is locked and by whom.

It's not about disputing posts but communication with the userbase more broadly.

Dravokivich

Fluorescence wrote: »

Tbh I'm struggling to think of a single example where a thread's been locked with no closing post to state why. While it's not a requirement, it's something pretty much every mod does as a matter of courtesy/convenience to all involved.

Chances are if you've spotted a locked thread with no closing post, it's only *just* been locked and the mod is typing up a post at that moment

It happens a lot in After Hours.

Super-Rush

Dravokivich wrote: »

It happens a lot in After Hours.

No it doesn't.

Dravokivich

Super-Rush wrote: »

No it doesn't.

3 times in just as many days. Its a regular occurrence so it is.

Dravokivich

Dravokivich wrote: »

3 times in just as many days. Its a regular occurrence so it is.

Could you link to those please Drav, it's certainly not something we mean to do however I am a self confessed ditz so it's highly possible that I closed something and then got distracted by something shiny

Dades

^^ I assumed that was a joke. I'd have thought one-a-day is perfectly acceptable for a forum as busy as AH?

Dravokivich

Dades wrote: »

^^ I assumed that was a joke. I'd have thought one-a-day is perfectly acceptable for a forum as busy as AH?

Had a quick look over the last few days and there was upto 15 closed, so its 1/5th.

Whoopsy. Cant really go through it again now as im on phone and wont be by a pc until much later.

nesf

Dades wrote: »

^^ I assumed that was a joke. I'd have thought one-a-day is perfectly acceptable for a forum as busy as AH?

Not really when a short summation of why takes less than a minute. Anything requiring a more complicated explanation hopefully won't have been a rushed decision and the mod not have been very short on time. Even a note just saying "explanation will follow later" is a lot better than nothing.

Now missing something that should have been locked for a few hours because things were up the walls and the mods were thinly stretched is perfectly acceptable on the busy forums. But if you're locking something you really should have enough time for some kind of perfunctory note at least.

Just a clear "Locked because of too much back and forth personal digs" will help a new user learn quicker what is and is not ok on a forum. It really doesn't take 30 seconds to do, you already know the reason since you had to arrive at it to lock the thread in the first place.

I've a quick look back, I got to 20 locked threads within 3 days before stopping. 4 had no closing post.

One looked like spam, I'd say the mod meant to delete it rather than lock it. I've deleted it now.

One was a guy looking for ideas for threads that would get him to 10000 posts, I locked it, and that was definitely one of my shiny moments because I remember locking it but have no idea which I didn't put a closing post? Hands up.

One was a dupe thread of the dublin bus one and the OP said on thread she knew there was another one and I thanked her post and locked it.

The fourth was a thread where the OP asked in the final post to have it locked.

I don't think that's unreasonable, in all honesty.

Czarcasm

I'm just wondering, there's a template dropdown list for infractions, could something similar be put in place for a Moderator to choose from when locking a thread?

My only recent experience was when a thread in AH was closed, and the reason given was "Thread closed for review", so I PM'd the Moderator to ask what was the story. Simple explanation really, the thread had slipped under the radar and the Moderator placed a temporary lock on it so no more posts could be added while they read through the thread. The thread was re-opened again once the Moderator had a chance to do some tidying up.

PM'ing the Moderators would surely seem like the most common sense approach to most people, they don't bite!

El Guapo!

I closed two threads in AH recently where I left no message.
One was at the request of the OP, and their post requesting it was the last post of the thread so I thought that would be pretty obvious.
The other was a spam type thread (probably the one Whoops is referring to) and I did mean to delete it. A mistake on my behalf, for which I hold my hands up.