Hi all, this is meant as constructive criticism. I've noticed in these forums that it seems topics seem to get locked often when, at least in my opinion, they don't deserve to be, and am wondering if anyone else feels the same.

For example, this thread was locked and I don't understand why: http://www.nintendolife.com/forums/wii/operation_rainfall_mai...

(I haven't picked that one for any particular reason). While it's good to see that moderators are active, and the locking of duplicate topics is warranted, sometimes it seems a little too much.

If no-one else agrees with me that's fine, but I wanted to see what other users' opinions were.

If you want to discuss why particular topics are locked, use the Contact form to discuss it with the admins and mods.

For what it's worth, we work very hard to keep these forums clean, clear and enjoyable for everyone. Sometimes that means locking topics, in which case we contact the original poster to explain why their topic was locked. We don't explain this publicly because frankly it's nobody else's business :3

So there you go.

In some forums I visit, they are much more lenient on topics.

Generally, topics on this website are locked because they are redundant (another WiiU spec thread), spam, or they are stirring up unwanted drama. For that last one, see the Power Rangers Role Play topic (if you can find it). Even the most popular topics can fall foul of this.

And as for this topic... It'll probably get locked. I'm sure there's another one asking exactly the same question somewhere on the forums, but don't take it personally. Usually, you'll get a little ":3" in the lock message, so hopefully, that'll cheer you up.

I disagree with this, a lot of the time. Obviously there's circumstances where the mods need to use discretion and communicate only with the original poster, but these are public forums. As a result, more than just the thread creator may be interested in the discussion at hand, and I believe that they have a right to also be told why the thread is being closed.

It doesn't have to be at great length, but I feel that a simple one line comment would suffice - especially in cases where it isn't being locked for obvious reasons such as duplicate threads, trolling etc.

@Wheels2050: in the case of that particular thread, i felt the reasoning was obvious, but here's what was sent to the OP via e-mail:

The reasons your original topic was locked were twofold:

(a) Petition topics around here very quickly fill with off-topic comments from our regulars either deriding the original poster for bothering or complaining that online petitions never work. therefore, by locking the thread, I was able to preserve the original intent without having to babysit it and delete the ensuing derailment as it happened.

(b) The admins frown upon users signing up for the sole purpose of advertisement, whether it be for personal websites, YouTube channels, products/services, etc. and so forth. you are more than welcome to put links into your signature, however (e.g. to the Facebook page explaining the project in detail), and if users are interested, they'll visit.

that said, 90% of the locking we do is duplicate topics, and as I've explained quite a few times already, we have no merge function here on these forums — it will be coming with the forum update Ant's got planned. For topics that wind up locked for other reasons, we always try to leave some sort of last comment explaining what's going on if we don't e-mail the OP — which other topics have we not done this for? If you link them, I can give you an idea of what happened (or perhaps explain more clearly if it wasn't obvious).

i agree wheels, honestly when i click a topic where a mod last posted i expect to be going to a locked thread

One problem I have with the locking of threads is when it's a duplicate of an old topic that hasn't been discussed in a long while. For example someone creating a topic about an old game in the retro forum and then it being locked because someone else did a similar topic a long time ago. I don't know how you guys search for it, but without a search function you can't really expect people to go back through several pages of threads to check it hasn't been brought up before.

I can understand the locking an almost identical Wii U thread that has been recently discussed but go easy on some of the other topics. An old thread might exist but sometimes it's just easier, more fun and more interesting to start a new one if it hasn't been discussed in a while.

Though it's something that has to be done (not the smiley the locking of filth lol). We can't have Anarchy in here. Though there are times were I felt the thread was locked too early, or sometimes TBD didn't get what the TC was trying to do.

I thought this was going to be locked when I saw the picture of the gentleman cat. TBD is right though, I myself probably would've unknowingly derailed your petition topic with a post about how it's a waste of time and petitions don't work. Have I become so predictable? =(

...is this topic locked yet?

You can search for topics with Google, just type in "site:nintendolife.com" into the search bar in addition to a topic you'd like to search.

We wouldn't have known that though! This is what I mean on acting too early. There was barely another post and locked. Give it a chance, if it starts getting off topic then use that Key of David.

I am not agreeing with the petition thread but, what I am saying in general for most of the locked topics. (Unless it's some stupid spam thread or exact duplicate of a thread that is still active).

To those who wish for a search function, google is always great.

Also, there is a hell of a lot that the mods on this site do, to keep everything clean. I'm grateful that they spend the time to lock sites, and direct to others if need be. :gentlemen:

and why did my Pranks Thread get deleted?

If I don't see a topic for, "Mouse Pockets for the NES" for about 6 pages (for people who are extremely active). How the heck am I suppose to know there was a Mouse Pockets topic 8 years ago. Even if I search it. it's gonna be locked for "digging up" an old thread.

@Kaiser The mod's don't usually mind if there is a previous thread that is over a year old. But it's not that hard to search via Google to check.

I've yet to see a thread that plain old common sense hasn't told me why it was locked yet.

That hasn't been the case with me when I bumped up a thread about Chocobos. >=(

can you link me a recent example of this? my personal cut-off point is about six months — if it's been longer than that since the last post in the original thread, I don't bother locking the duplicate (unless the original was especially notorious or long, e.g. the 'favorite user' thread).

also, without a working search function, we don't really expect you guys to be able to search for it — that's why we provide a link for you instead of just telling you to search the forums for yourself. no one's in trouble if we lock a duplicate thread, we're just trying to keep conversations coherent as opposed to splintered across the forums.

(a) i think the fact that the forums weren't around 8 years ago would be the biggest clue
(b) so long as you can add something constructive to the conversation, sure, revive an old thread if you find it. if you're just posting in an outdated thread to say 'lol this is an old thread', though, we will have problems. :/

@KaiserGX: I just checked for you, there is no "Mouse Pockets" topic, took me 5 seconds.

Lol that was an example.

I thought Mouse Pockets was a clue for both of you.

I honestly do feel like it's almost fun for these mods to lock topics. I get annoyed sometimes when I have a question about something and instead of an answer I get..... Please use this thread to discuss that topic. It almost feels like I'm being told to shut up and my posts are not welcome. I've made topics before about what games I should buy. They always want to direct you to the recommendations thread. The problem with that is there are 300 pages worth to read through.
If I want to know about one specific game I shouldn't have to read an entire books worth of pages.