Should Annoying Threads Be Locked Down?

There's a point where it becomes an act of mercy.

[martinibuster]

There are some threads, usually initiated by new members, that veer way off their topic and devolve into name calling, provocations, and useless running in circles.

Isn't there a point when these nuisance threads should be shut down? By allowing this kind of misbehavior from the willfully annoying aren't we also encouraging it?

Or is there a dark pleasure to be gained from watching people taunt and provoke the membership?

[rogerd]

By and large, martinibuster, it seems like the mods do a pretty good job of keeping posters within the TOS. The last few weeks seem to have been a bit more challenging. I don't know why, exactly - vacations? A few resignations whose posts haven't been filled? Brett being absent for a bit? I do agree that deliberately provocative (in a bad way) posters should be reined in early.

[Marcia]

>>veer way off their topic and devolve into name calling, provocations, and useless running in circles.

Mmhmmm... like the ones with people who don't get their affiliate sites into ODP?

>>Isn't there a point when these nuisance threads should be shut down?

Oh, absolutely!

>>Or is there a dark pleasure to be gained from watching people taunt and provoke the membership?

No martinibuster, that's not it. It's just that some of us are so busy out there wrapped up in trying to manipulate Google that we don't check in quite as often as we should. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to get carried away and forget when things get so engrossing.

When anything needs attention, a stickymail pointing it out is always appreciated.

[martinibuster]

It's just that some of us are so busy out there wrapped up in trying to manipulate Google that we don't check in quite as often as we should.

:)

Too funny. I guess I'm not busy enough!

[takagi]

When anything needs attention, a stickymail pointing it out is always appreciated.

Is there a quick way to find out which moderators are online? I used to look in the profile to see when the last post was made by a moderator for the forum, but for some reason now I can only see that list for my own profile.

[Marcia]

takagi, a stickymail to the mod of a forum is always fine, and they should know if there's anything that needs attention. But since we operate on all different time zones around the clock here, it would probably help to watch over a little bit of time and see which admins are generally around at which times and send a CC to an admin as well - whoever has been noticed being around at the particular time something may happen.