locking utility of resolved threads, do you wish it to die it's natural death

Are you planning to join politics, Mr. PL? Garnering votes and all?

i too need some frustration outlet bro. 

rise up indies

I came here hoping that this thread would be still open. 

My personal opinion: I don't like threads being locked even if the query has been solved. Let them live... May be someone would be able to give a better answer in the future if the thread is left open.

I am getting into the habit of comparing sites but I can't help.  The locked threads remind me of meritnation.com Students ask questions and the experts answer and lock them. It looks like a place for getting ready made answers rather than searching for answers and thinking about the question. In the end, a student would not be able to find a single question on which he can share his ideas. I only hope that IndiBlogger doesn't turn into such a place.

It might be better if all the members are given the right to lock threads which they have started marking it as solved or something similar instead of the moderators doing the job.

Thanks Ranjith, Your point of locking up option of thread up to thread originator is supe. My feelings are that thread originator feels a pinch, if someone else does the locking stuff. it feels bad.I don't know about others. 

Even that's true. If not all, atleast people like me would feel bad if their threads are locked. And a newbie is bound to be more affected since threads are locked only when the content isn't appropriate or the thread creator has done something which shouldn't be done. ( as far as I know )

thanks Ranjith, feel a little at ease now.

@ PL - True. Thread originators are very posessive about their threads and get very touchy if mods touch their threads. But may not be great idea to have originator decide to lock thread because here it is discussions and not students asking questions. So even when originator is done, somebody else may want to continue the discussion. I personally am not in favor of duplicate threads as we should not be letting people generally crowding the forum with multiple threads on same topic with slight variation just for gaining their moment of fame.

Ranjith

And a newbie is bound to be more affected

Only if he/she reads rules/Important stuff, it would not happen. We had people here who even said that rules are meant to be broken!

since threads are locked only when the content isn't appropriate or the thread creator has done something which shouldn't be done. ( as far as I know )

I think this has been explained many times now. This is not the only case when threads are locked. In fact, in this scenario threads are usually deleted.

@ Animesh I'm sorry for posting an incomplete sentence. This is what I meant to post.

And a newbie is bound to be more affected since on other forums  threads are locked only when the content isn't appropriate or the thread creator has done something which shouldn't be done. ( as far as I know )

Agree with what Ranjith says.

Lock is a term I associate with reasons like spamming/flaming/trolling, etc and not with mission accomplished. If that is indeed the reason being cited, then I am against it.

Taking a hypothetical example here -

Suppose Manas Kumar Sahu is travelling when Ranjith answers his query and is unable to follow up on his query. On returning, he peeps in his thread, reads the reply and now wishes to post a further question there. But what does he see? "This thread is locked". He is clueless of what next is to be done and prefers leaving the place rather than banging his head and wasting any more time over the issue.

And if the same was one of my threads, I would want to return to it and find it open even if it simply meant me saying a thank you!

Having said all this, I would also like to add that if there is any other reason that bothers the IndiPolice and leads them to take the step, then a discussion in the open is always welcome.

PS: No offense meant to anyone.

thanks arti ji, for clear views. i also concur with you.

Agree with Rio De La Sciocco, Ranjith & Arti.

• Locking a thread, because the original query has been been sorted out, means that a new thread has to be created by anyone who has a 'similar' question.
• On another forum where I am relatively more active (TeamBHP), users are encouraged to use existing threads on the same topic, rather than opening new threads. - The approach has been working fine with 100s of posts coming in daily.
• If threads are opened in contravention of the basic IndiRules - i.e. providing links to own website, stock-tips etc. such threads should be blocked / deleted.

To illustrate my first point, this discussion about locked threads could have happened on the first thread, which is now locked 

http://www.indiblogger.in/forum/topic.php?id=14882 (Locked)

thanks sanjay,

Guess we mods seem to be using Lock functionality at cross purposes. I typically used to use it for directing all discussions related to a particular topic to a single particular thread. Nowadays don't use it much as members were getting too touchy. Some of the other mods on the other hand use it to lock threads once the question being asked is complete.

Guess Renie has to make some rules or guidelines in this regard. Like when in the nation courts can not pass clear judgement due to lack of any cler legistlation with regard to particular topic. So we need some guideline on whwther we want to direct all discussions related to a topic to the same thread or lock everytime a discussion is complete and let members start afresh again and again. Good point, Sanjay.

touchy, or hurt, that was the point i wanted to raise @ Fool, I've seen many instances where blogger hasn't even turned back due to hurt feel. It may be a worth point to redirect, but thread originator feels bad of it. I saw hemal suggesting a worthy thread originator for category ideas, to his previous thread and voi la, I haven't seen that bloggrr here since. 

Many instances can be seen. My point is, worthiness of such action of hurt. 

Maybe it will be good to divide the forum into more sections. In chit chat section allow users to do anything except link spamming and have limited moderation. In knowldge section on detailed topics, try to have single thread for every point and direct all related discussions. And then technical queries section, where people can post specific queries on Indiblogger, blogger, word press, SEO etc. and the threads get closed by thread originator after query is answered.

nice point thought.

There is a problem with this.

In knowldge section on detailed topics, try to have single thread for every point and direct all related discussions.

We have already seen this on bigger threads. At time, people comment as a reply to another comment and it becomes difficult to find out that comment.

come on friends, speak your mind

I think I will also vote for Mr. Pramod Lohia a.k.a Rio De La Sciocco. Thinking of it, it does makes sense. I was interested in merging threads of similar topics coming from my expereince in MBA Forums. There I guess knowledge is critical. So you need to ensure it is not distributed. Here as Mr. PL says, knowledge is not so critical. It is more general time pass. So retaining members is more important than aggregating knowledge I guess.

Also in MBA forums, people are desperate. So mods can behave like kings and still members have to bow to them. Not so here. These kind of forums, members don't come by so easily. Blog Adda has started a forum. I started a thread there. Even a dog has not stopped by to date.

thanks Fool,