Why was this locked?

http://www.animepaper.net/forums/Music-Lounge/60985

I can think of two *potential* reasons why it could have been, and I can also think of rebuttals why neither of those reasons are valid in this case (if you ask me, of course). The first is it could be a list thread, however I think when discussing local and underground stuff, you need to post some links to put in footholds for discussion, and the other is it was a semi-old topic that had been bumped, however I had never seen it until the bump.

Just wondering, of course. If whoever closed it could enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

Also, about my other thread in the P&S board... it's a similar topic, so I may still have something to say about it. For a while there one of the Firefox betas wasn't letting me log in at work and I was too lazy to open the site in IE, so I stopped checking the forums all together for a while there.

While I am not the one who closed the thread, my deduction based on the thread starter's post is that he just intents for people to post their respective neighborhood band links for him to check out.

It's pretty much a "Please post links to "so and so". The first paragraph is mostly a description of his situation.

Yet it hadn't developed (degenerated?) into a list thread when it was closed. I understand that the volume of threads and posts being created here makes it difficult to moderate everything and that something that would receive impunity from one mod would be locked by another (this rule also seems to be more lenient depending on what section of the forum you're posting in) - but personally I don't think the thread was in violation. The nature of the topic was one that kind of requires people to post about certain bands if they want to actually discuss - then things can move on to genre's and scenes and what not. Sure, there's probably not enough people here who care, but I digress.

My issue the last time I made a thread questioning a lock was due to how I perceived a new moderator's (at that time, my assumption) zeal, however she's proven me wrong after the fact. For the most part. :P But in the past, it seemed like some of the mods here would do a burst of thread locks and then disappear from the forums for awhile, and while the current staff is mostly active, you are (mostly) human and I think the populace should be able to stand up and voice their opinion when they disagree.

Either way, I'm not saying that the thread should be unlocked otherwise I'm going to make a big stink or anything; I just wanted to put my opinion out there.

I was the one who closed it down.
Sorry for not pointing the reason out.

Basically I closed it cause it had a huge tendency to be a list thread soon.
The discription didn't involve any sort of discussion and there are also the points that Dias already mentioned. The thread just turned into a "post a link" or better "name the bands in your neighborhood". That's pretty much a list fest for me. If other members of the staff don't think so the thread can be re-opened. But until there is no such feedback it will stay closed.

See, that's all well and good, but my issue isn't with these threads themselves; I could hardly care less about the threads (well, last time I had some personal investment in the thread, but that's beside the point). The main question here is one of consistency.

Bear with me for a moment, but in the case of the Emulators vs. Consoles thread - yes, there were people coming in and posting one-liners without reading any of the prior posts, and yes, it began as a poll topic - however, contextually it was discussion material that was easily argumentative from both sides, and I think (with the help of some pruning) it was a reasonably strong discussion. Granted, a large percentage of this board's population is either in an age group or at a level of fluency with English where a high-level conversation flourishing is rare (English is my 2nd language as well, but I try to be reasonably cogent :P), however if the thread was so clearly in violation, why wasn't it locked immediately instead of after having generated 5 pages of replies?

The thread that I've brought up in my post here was one that I didn't have a personal investment in, so I'm not hugely attached to it for any specific reason, however - again, based on context, how else would you expect people to research underground bands to the point of being able to talk to them without links being provided? You might argue that, by nature, the thread was in violation of the rules, however a cursory glance into the General Discussion section of the forum shows countless threads of which are in violation immediately from their first post, and are then followed by endless flows of garbage posts. It's not a question of topicality, is it? I mean, if a tween has a teacher they just hate at school and have to post about them, or about how much their parents suck, I really couldn't care less, but I suppose there's someone who might? Then again, that's how I see the thread in question here that was closed - it's something I'm interested in that someone else might not even give a crap about, which is the only reason I'm bothering raising objection.

So why is it that these huge one-liner-fests are granted clemency, however posts that are actually generating somewhat insightful (for the territory, at least) discussion at the time of closure in slower sections of the board are locked as soon as a mod/admin sees them? Are discussion threads held to a different standard just based on the section of the board they reside in? Then again, why was the topic allowed to exist for over a month before it was decided to be closed? I understand that the staff can't be everywhere at all times, but it seems like some topics are skipped and only looked at when brought to the top of the thread index. I'm not trying to accuse any admins of only entering topics that it seems like they'd read, but I'm not sure I can think of an explanation otherwise (then again, there's the huge copy/pasted posts made by just-created accounts in an attempt to grab papers... I don't even bother reporting them because 1) nobody seems to care and 2) the user is long gone by the time anyone reacts, so whatever).

One could argue that the mods/admins aren't infallible and as such some threads are treated with different mandates, however at that point the entire "my decision is final unless another admin disagrees" standpoint rubs me the wrong way. To me it just sounds like saying "I'm right and I don't care what the populace thinks," which I'm not entirely sure is a quality I hold in high regard in a staff member. I understand that moderating a large forum isn't exactly a glamorous job (I used to be an admin at a fairly large board, however it was mostly self-regulating due to its userbase and most of what I did was intervening when fights erupted), but as such I guess I just want to know why certain sections of the board are granted more leniency than others.

One final thing I want to mention that I've seen just about every staff member here do - certain topics in the gaming and tech boards (the only ones I hit frequently) asking for, say, help with a specific game or piece of software are closed with a generic "check GameFAQs/Google/whatever" post. I guess I don't see the problem with asking for help with specific software? I mean, it's discussion about games and/or PC software, isn't it? If the message is "there's places out there that are specifically geared for your question," couldn't the same be said about any thread created on this forum?

Orchid

One final thing I want to mention that I've seen just about every staff member here do - certain topics in the gaming and tech boards (the only ones I hit frequently) asking for, say, help with a specific game or piece of software are closed with a generic "check GameFAQs/Google/whatever" post. I guess I don't see the problem with asking for help with specific software? I mean, it's discussion about games and/or PC software, isn't it? If the message is "there's places out there that are specifically geared for your question," couldn't the same be said about any thread created on this forum?

1. We aren't a request board except for the excemption of music requests.
2. You know very well that the information they're after can be found with minimal effort and the use of the resources mentioned. I don't think "Hi I'm too lazy to go and find something out for myself so I want you to tell me" is a valid topic that generates discussion.

Well yes, but besides the people who are asking how to pirate Photoshop or figure out how torrents work, I don't think it's too obtrusive. I guess for a lot of the examples around here I'd agree though.

If i may quote the FAQ

* AP does not allow list-fest threads (inclusive of the examples above). Please be aware of this when starting any new topic on the main forum board. And please do not keep such threads alive if they exist. Moderators might be busy and do not have time to attend to such threads immediately.

* Game threads are not allowed on the main forum board as it will end up as a spam-magnet. Furthermore, such threads do not contribute anything at all to a proper discussion.

please note that it says main forum.

the user who posted the thread didn't pay attention to the rules about posting threads, and therefore it was closed.

this is only speculation on my part, but i think had the thread been in a group, like say we < 3 music, it would have been left alone.

the principle for this is, that the main forum is for everyone, and should remain free of junk so as to not waste people's time looking through it for something of substance. if people want to waste time in a group, that's their prerogative, and in the groups is less obtrusive.

if this thread being closed bothers you so, ask the admins if it would be fine in a group and then proceed as you wish, according to their response.

Please read my posts before you bother replying in the future, thanks.

I did, and my post was relevant.

it was likely to generate a list fest and it was in the main forums, that's why it was closed. as for the emulators thread, the FAQ answers that as well, mods are busy, and may not be able to get to them immediately. as far as i can tell, the main forum boards have been kept relatively clean of list fests and spam. this is what the moderators primary responsibility is, that section of the forums. in the groups the threads are generally closed for flame wars, but most list fests and spam threads are left.

seeing as your a senior member, me waving the FAQs at you may seem unnecessary, because you should know them well, but this issue seems pretty clear to me, and it's specifically covered in the FAQs.

the threads that are closed don't belong due to the fact that they are in the main forum section. it's not about what the admins and mods like talking about, it's about following the board rules, which all the staff does, otherwise they wouldn't be staff.

as for the "help" threads, why would the staff want to encourage laziness on the part of the posters? they have enough to take care of without having to monitor lazy individuals, and if they manage to teach them to not be lazy, then it makes it easier for the entire AP community.

this may sound rude, but this should all be easily understood by a senior member and i fail to comprehend where your difficulties in understanding it arise from.

If you did indeed read them all, perhaps you should try understanding them.

It may have been "likely to generate a list-fest," however if you did read the posts as you indicate you have, you'd know that my concern isn't with the thread itself. Either way, I'm addressing the staff, and your wannabe-mod pandering is doing little else than needlessly wasting my time. If you actually have something to contribute that actually touches on the issues in question without reciting passages from the guide, feel free to do so. Until then, I'm fairly sure I have a good grasp of the forum's guidelines and I don't need your help with "difficulties in understanding," however you've indicated that you have some difficulties in understanding of your own.

Though i may have commented on that thread specifically, i also commented on the threads in general, but it seems that you refuse to acknowledge my points because i'm not staff. do as you please, i'm not discussing this further with you.

I haven't refused to acknowledge any points you've made because you've failed to actually make any that pertain to anything I'm discussing in this thread. My concern is not about the threads specifically but the state of the forum's administration. Why you aren't able to grasp that is beyond me. Anyway, thanks for posting your tripe. If you want to actually discuss how the forum is handled, feel free - I welcome it. If you're just going to post verbatim from the guide, do it elsewhere - it's not needed here.

Ok, so i was waiting for an admin or mod to come in and explain this to you, but none has so i'll reiterate my point and hopefully you'll get what i mean.

you want to know how the forum is handled right? then why do you not want to see what the guide says? the guide is the guide. it is the rules that apply to all of AP, including the admins. it is the rules the admins are expected to uphold, thus they justly do. when they close a thread it is because it is against forum rules. threads that are closed in the main section of the forums are either because they were list fests, game threads, spam magnets, or flame wars. threads closed in groups are almost always just those that are flame wars. if a thread is inactive for three months it automatically closes. that is how the forum is managed, and it is in the guide, hence the reason i quoted the guide. i've never seen an admin show favoritism in anything. they have a responsibility to uphold a certain standard in this community, so they do. you should understand that seeing as you were once an admin of a forum.

so next time a thread is closed look at it objectively and think to yourself 'why was this closed? would it have been a list fest soon? was it a spam magnet? was it a game thread?' if the answer is yes, check to see which section of the forums it was in. i can almost guarantee it would have been in the main forums.

i hope this answered your question.

Might as well nail this thing close.

Damoser, the reason why an admin or mod did not reply was because we believed that the whole matter was already settled between Orchid and Hatesyou prior to your first post in this thread. The contents of the correspondences after that had nothing to do with us.

We'd appreciate if members would evaluate the situation on hand and accordingly, decide whether their post would be helpful to the situation or not. We do appreciate the volunteering of time and energy to help but as the old saying goes, there's always the proper time and place. The whole correspondence was cordial and would have laid the whole matter to rest amicably up till the point you forwarded your input which heated up the whole situation. This thread was then inactive for over two days, which we had assume that everything's already fine till your most recent post which from my POV, adds only fuel to the fire.

In the end, the thread became a debate between two members which was already showing signs of going out of control.