Closed Closing Threads, Right or Wrong or am I missing something?

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Peter Dickinson

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There does not appear to be a thread about closing threads. I am not trying to stir up trouble here but what I observed this past couple of days I thought was wrong:

Kiwipro made a posting on this page:
https://www.zoochat.com/community/posts/399096
Fair enough. One persons opinion and to be honest not one that I especially shared.

Then Chlidonias responded, quite clearly and logically and took Kiwipro's posting to task. That's is what it is about... 'discussion'. It happens that I agree with Chlidonias here but that is neither here nor there.

Next Mark the Moderator comes in and asks: "Is it really worth keeping this thread open??"

Then Kiwipro (who just 22 hours before had something very important to say on the matter) responds with " Hi Mark, I suggest closing it please, there is really nothing new or of substance to say on this subject"

And Mark closes the thread!!!!!!!!! What????

Sorry but this is wrong. Kiwipro does not like being pointed out as wrong and Mark sides with him. Is there something here I have missed or do not understand?
 
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Yes you are missing something Peter, This thread was opened after more than one year without any comments and this is the reason I wanted to close it down. I side with no one here so your comment is wrong Peter so please get your facts right before you shoot from the hip & why could you not PM me if you thought this was a problem?
 
It was certainly a very abrupt ending to an ongoing discussion.

Because it was an ongoing discussion about an ongoing subject I would certainly like to know why it was terminated.

MARK is a reasonable guy and I am sure that he will have a reasonable explanation for the closure of this thread.
 
Because I think it is a problem. Kiwipro....new information to a 'quiet thread'. An answer that does not agree....possible debate. Kiwipro does not like the Chlidonias response...thread closed. Sorry but I do think it was wrong for the thread to be closed in light of the activity over the past 24 hours.
No suggestions was made about siding with anybody it just did not make any sense to close it.
 
Kiwipro does not like being pointed out as wrong and Mark sides with him.

Then what is this?
 
Peter Dickinson said:
Then I apologise....but I am still not happy with your explanation.
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Thats Ok Peter. I do not like keeping old threads open ,If there has been no comment with threads in more a year & Sim has agreed with me about this. If I come across other old threads I would like to close them as well.

If you have any other problems please pm me first,
Thank you
 
I will say that I have no problem with the thread being locked and I certainly wouldn't suggest Mark was siding with anyone, but I totally agree with Peter that it was very odd that kiwipo should make a post on a thread that hasn't been used in an entire year - a post that was in fact entirely unnecessary in my opinion - and then when I responded to it he then says there's nothing to say on the subject and asks for it to be locked. It just seemed odd behaviour.
 
just further to my above comment, I'd like to add that I think its quite reasonable of Peter to start this thread. If he was only using it to argue with Mark then certainly a pm to Mark would be more preferable but that wasn't his intention. I'm sure there would be other people (eg, myself, and Steve in post #3) who may read the now-locked Zion thread and wonder what happened there.

As to locking threads just because they're old, my two cents worth is that threads should only be locked if there is a good reason. I often post new information in threads that have sat dormant for a while, because that new information is pertinent to the thread. For example, a zoo gets in a pair of some new exciting species and a thread is started; the thread then sits quiet for a year but then the animals breed for the first time. It is far better (in my opinion) to post this new information in the original thread so everything is in one place than to start a brand new one.
 
It was, from all appearances, a wrong decision to lock the thread.

Old threads are frequently revived on this forum, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Kiwipro bumped the thread, got an answer he didn't like (though certainly one that did not transgress a single rule of Zoochat or even standards of common decency) and then jumped at the opportunity to block off further comment.

Mark - I've had your job on other (far more busy and fractious) websites, and I know how difficult it can be. But at all times you need to have a very compelling reason to lock a thread. The bias always must be *against* taking action as a moderator. Your job is to facilitate, rather than to ****** discussion, as your action did in this case.

Like umpires on the sporting field, the best moderators are those that are never noticed.
 
Having moderated the Zoo Biology Group since January 1999 I am more aware than most of the difficulties involved. I give credit to Mark and his performance to date. It can be a frustrating task at times.
 
This seems to be a nothing argument, regarding the thread which peter was referring to, it was kiwipo that suggested closing it.
There is an agreement in place between the moderators and members that threads over a year old will be closed down for the fact it is so difficult to find amongst the myriads of postings on here.
How difficult is it to start a thread? (whispers, not very!).
The chat on here does seem to flow pretty well here, Mark is doing a great job as a moderator, it may not be the busiest chat site, but the way things have been going over the past few months, more than making up for it in the "fractious" column.
 
kiang said:
There is an agreement in place between the moderators and members that threads over a year old will be closed down for the fact it is so difficult to find amongst the myriads of postings on here.
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an agreement in place between moderators and members? Where and when did this agreement take place? As a member I don't believe I'd ever heard of anything of the sort until MARK said yesterday that he would "like to" close old threads.
 
Chlidonias said:
an agreement in place between moderators and members? Where and when did this agreement take place? As a member I don't believe I'd ever heard of anything of the sort until MARK said yesterday that he would "like to" close old threads.
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Indeed. What possible reason is there to have this policy? If such a policy exists, why is it a) not widely made clear and b) applied consistently?

Also, since when does kiwipo - or any other member for that matter - get threads locked simply by requesting so?
 
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