Why the need to babysit threads?

[BJE]

We are adults here, yet I see threads closed for discussions that the mods deemed inappropriate, stating things such as
“We don't have all day long to cull individual posts.”
I saw no posts that violated anyone’s rights, threatened, caused anyone’s cat to ignite, incited a riot, ect.

I can understand limiting trolling or abusive behavior for the viewing pleasure of the masses, but it was an interesting discussion that abruptly ended because one mod thought that kid gloves needed to come out.
I suppose I just dislike being silenced for reasons not obvious to myself, someone commented on a post I wanted to reply to and now I’m unable to, as were many others.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what the people that keep this place running do, but in the interest of conversation, why is it so taboo for one topic to include relevant bits of another?

If that same discussion happened in person would you call foul and abruptly silence everyone involved so as not to stray too far from the original topic, or even worse, to keep the supposed majority’s feelings from aching in a minor way?

Just venting as I have seen many good threads, (to me at least), ended because one person says so. Natural conversation amongst friends and hobbyists tend to flow and evolve, changing direction to and fro, it’s what makes it a discussion instead of a wiki.

 

[benchwarmer380]

We are adults here, yet I see threads closed for discussions that the mods deemed inappropriate, stating things such as
“We don't have all day long to cull individual posts.”
I saw no posts that violated anyone’s rights, threatened, caused anyone’s cat to ignite, incited a riot, ect.

I can understand limiting trolling or abusive behavior for the viewing pleasure of the masses, but it was an interesting discussion that abruptly ended because one mod thought that kid gloves needed to come out.
I suppose I just dislike being silenced for reasons not obvious to myself, someone commented on a post I wanted to reply to and now I’m unable to, as were many others.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what the people that keep this place running do, but in the interest of conversation, why is it so taboo for one topic to include relevant bits of another?

If that same discussion happened in person would you call foul and abruptly silence everyone involved so as not to stray too far from the original topic, or even worse, to keep the supposed majority’s feelings from aching in a minor way?

Just venting as I have seen many good threads, (to me at least), ended because one person says so. Natural conversation amongst friends and hobbyists tend to flow and evolve, changing direction to and fro, it’s what makes it a discussion instead of a wiki.

Thread drift is fairly natural and common.

However, politics belongs in one specific place on the forums so as to keep the rest of the place nice and tidy.

If it was just a few posts, it would have likely just yielded a notice to get back on track.

When there's a dozen or more posts scattered throughout a few pages, sometimes it's just easier to shut it down than sift through.

Blame the mod if you want, but some should also go to the folks that know better and indulged anyways.

 

[EngrSorenson]

Gee… I dunno… ‘cause the mods here are seasoned vets who understand the rules, and know how to best maintain order?

If the forum is thriving, the moderation is probably just right.

 

[Danke42]

Everyone loves rules.

 

[Spillproof]

I'm a Moderator for a large forum.
There's nothing Mods love more than having a disgruntled user start a new thread complaining about getting a thread shut down.

I'd rec you contact someone on staff directly via PM. Otherwise you're basically escalating.

 

[kreole]

I don't blame the mods because that's a thankless job for sure and trying to moderate individual posts in a long thread, every long thread, would be impossible without it coming with pay and full benefits, but I also don't like that a few people come into an interesting thread, get it off topic with the usual political or "patriotic" bs, and it gets shut down. It feels like the trolls win. Happens a ton in anything to do with Chinese knives or companies.

Since it seems like the same people are always the ones causing threads to close and getting them off topic, it'd be nice to just start banning folks who do it repeatedly IMO. Long term that might make moderating easier as well.

 

[BJE]

I'm a Moderator for a large forum.
There's nothing Mods love more than having a disgruntled user start a new thread complaining about getting a thread shut down.

I'd rec you contact someone on staff directly via PM. Otherwise you're basically escalating.

Happily I’m not on that forum

 

[BJE]

Gee… I dunno… ‘cause the mods here are seasoned vets who understand the rules, and know how to best maintain order?

If the forum is thriving, the moderation is probably just right.

I have only been a member since 2006, I suppose I’m not veteran enough to know when things are “just right”.

 

[EngrSorenson]

I have only been a member since 2006, I suppose I’m not veteran enough to know when things are “just right”.

17 years should be more than enough time to figure out how things work. There’s rules, there’s mods, there’s moderator actions. Closing a thread is probably the least of them.

There’s a place in these forums to discuss literally everything under the sun. Find that place, take it there. Like it or not, there’s a reason subforums exist.

 

[EngrSorenson]

Everyone loves rules.