Topic: Excessive Locking of Topics

That's what those recommendation threads are for, so we don't have tons of "what game is better" threads cluttering the forums, again just plain common sense.

@ Reala
what's so hard about just answering someones question rather than push them off on some three month old thread?
Especially when no one is talking about the game you are interested in.

Thanks for the responses. As I've stated above, I think the mods do a great job and spend a lot of time helping out the forums, particularly with directing people to topics already discussing the topic at hand.

However, I don't know about others but in my experience on forums (I've been a member of quite a few over the years), posting in a thread that has been dead for even a month will have people crying "threadcomancy!". Perhaps some people feel the same? If I was to dig up a three-month old thread and start posting in it again, I'd feel a little dirty... Often starting a completely new thread IS the best option - if I open up a 10 page thread and see that the first posts are from a year or two ago, I tend to stop reading.

Thanks for the explanation in that case TBD. I can't think of any other threads off the top of my head which have been closed without obvious reason, but I know I've come across a couple. In the case of that particular thread, I felt that as the petition was not an online one it was worth pursuing (I have the same opinion as many people about online petitions, namely that they don't achieve much). Particularly given this being a Nintendo forum, it might be something people here could really get behind. Closing the topic at that point removed any chance of discussion which people may have wished to get into.

I'm not here to tell to you how to do your job, but as a forum member this was just something I've noticed.

Back in the day without the recommendations threads, the forums wound up cluttered with sixty-bazillion threads asking which game to purchase (e.g. maybe OoT vs. MM here, then OoT vs. aLttP there, then perhaps OoT vs. MM vs. aLttP in yet another thread... seriously, that kind of thing gets old fast). That's why the recommendations threads exist in the first place. No one's asking you to read through the entire backlog of asked-about games to find your answers, just to ask your question there and allow people to answer you in those threads.

@Wheels2050: as i've already stated in a previous reply to this thread, so long as you have something constructive to add to the conversation and aren't just reviving a thread to be all 'lol this thread is old', we've generally got no problem with thread revivals (and unhelpful/unconstructive comments from other users along the lines of 'lol necromancy' wind up deleted on sight, feel free to report those when you see them :3)

@Link79 (Quoting to both your messages): Recommendations thread is a place to ask, you don't have to read every page, and if you feel like there's no one talking about the game your interested in, why would there be when you start a new thread? I by myself don't even take a look at a thread about "which is better" because I know that after you get the answer, that's it. No need for that thread anymore. And if everyone does the same, forums will be overloaded with these things. I do take a look at recommendations sometimes and if there's a game I know about I'll let others know what I think of that game.

@ theblackdragon
I can see how all those threads about the same thing would get annoying. Especially when your job requires cleaning up all that mess. I'll try to be more considerate before posting things all willy nilly. Being a mod sounds like a tough job.
Without you guys these boards would be a bigger mess than they already are.

@Link79: Thank you :3

@GuardianAcorn: sorry, I just realized you'd asked a question — i told you via e-mail the other day why that thread was deleted; at least one of the replies had been filthy (meaning it would go downhill from there) and, to be honest, we do not need a thread with users egging each other on to one-up themselves in terms of disgusting and/or potentially illegal pranks, especially not with the number of young, impressionable users we have here on the forums. it's another 'you meant well, but that's not how it turned out' scenario. Check your e-mail inbox.

that said, sometimes they disappear due to a server hiccup, sometimes the OP deleted it themselves, but when threads are deleted by the moderation team, we always send the OP an e-mail explaining why (so that it doesn't happen again; obviously it was deleted for a reason and we'd rather not see it reposted). If it's not there when you notice the thread has been deleted, give us a few minutes, we're probably still drafting the e-mail. If it's still not there (or if you're just an impatient kind of person, lol), please use the Contact Form to get in touch with us and we'll find out what happened for you.

Personally, i don't think enough threads get locked.

This was enlightening.

I have to say one of the reasons I visit these forums so much is because of the Mod team. I have been to alot of forums and after awhile I leave them cause sooner or later they get filled with troll threads or a hundred threads asking the same thing. I like being able to come here and see all the different threads without having to surf through troll threads and duplicate threads. Its also nice not to have to repeat the same thing over and over due to duplicate threads.

Another thing I do like is that the Mods are relatively easy to contact and that they do tell you why they did said action. I have a 10 year old son and because of the Mods diligence I let him read the threads and he gets a laugh out of them and what not a. There is no way I would let him read some of the other video game forums.

Anyway thats my thoughts on it.

Easy fix: Everyone stop making terrible threads.

Personally think that the moderators on the site do their job well, regarding this subject.

I know that a lot of threads are opened due to plain impulsiveness, and are most of the time centered around hyped-up games.

I've decided never to make another thread on Nintendolife because no matter how unique you think it is, the mods here will always dig up some ancient, buried thread, link you to it (which you would have never found had they not), seemingly scold you for not digging for hours to find it, then lock you up. No other gaming site I belong to does this really but NL, but whatevz. I do like it here, but posting threads is impossible.

My only concern about having one universal recommendations thread is if several people are asking for advice at once, some questions could get buried and unanswered. It could also get confusing trying to keep track of who was asking what and who responded to whom. Not to mention that if you wanted to go back weeks or months down the road to read what others wrote about your question, you would have to scroll through multiple pages to find your original question. Maybe you can search for individual threads using Google, but can you search within a thread?

@Mully

The moderators will never scold you on locking a topic. On the contrary, I've seen forums where if someone posts a topic that's already been covered, someone comes back with an overly detailed (four paragraphs) and patronising explanation of the search bar in the top right corner. They are hardly ever moderators though - just members of the self satisfied web police.

I'm talking about the Minecraft Forums, by the way.

Here' the moderators take a more front seat approach, but they never scold you unless you're stirring up debate (political, mainly) or constantly posting inane topics.

I guess that's just how I've taken it before. It's hard to read into the tone of a message online. At any rate, I stand by my comment — no threads will be posted here by me 'cause they'll always just get locked. I will, however, continue to read articles and the threads of others and I will continue to leave my two cents on them.

@Mully Please continue to make topics — we're just trying to keep things clear and easy to read for everyone, otherwise it gets confusing with multiple threads on the same topic. As edhe says, we'll never scold you for not using the search box — that seems unfair as it doesn't really work :3

There is a thread here that came around a few months ago where The Black Dragon tells how we can search for already made threads. Which is this thread here https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/general_discussion/the_whe...

I went and bookmarked that thread so that way before I post I can check to see if there is a current one already. My suggestion is to bookmark that thread so that way you can search for a thread if you are afraid of yours being locked.

Personally I like that the Mods lock over repeated threads, that way we dont have 500 threads asking the same thing like other sites forums. I hate having to weed through 500 thread all asking the same thing or having to repeat myself in 500 threads. Thats one reason I stopped going to alot of forums.

And I have had several threads locked and I never got a rude email/comment from any of the mods, but as you stated Mully its hard to read into the tone of a written message. The only time I have seem Mods scold at you is if you do the something again that they warned you about before like remake a thread that has already been locked once by a mod or putting back words into you post that the mods edited out cause they were offensive in some way.

(a) I believe I've already stated that my cut-off point for redirecting to an older thread is about six months from the most recent reply to it. six months is by no means an 'ancient, buried thread'.

(b) I don't recall having scolded anyone solely for having to redirect/lock a topic unless said person is a repeat offender and the original thread was theirs in the first place. we've had a few of those around before who obstinately refuse to use their original threads to continue the discussions and feel the need to create a brand new topic every time a thought so much as flits through their minds, and it gets old, y'know? they usually chill out and get the point after a while, though :3

(c) we have never 'locked up' or banned a user solely for creating repeat topics, accidentally or no.

(d) the only evidence of a locked topic of yours that i can find, badmouthsadmouth/Mully, was this one here — if there were more, you've long since deleted them, as Google isn't picking them up at all. either way, that particular lock comes from a long-standing order straight from the head honchos where any Nintendo Download threads get locked and redirected to the mainsite articles in question. basically, they'd rather see those discussions happening on the main site than on the forums. When it happens, we leave the threads standing until the NL articles are up, and then we lock/redirect, no big deal.

also, the reason you probably see this happening more here than at any of the other forums you visit is because those other forums all have a merge function, i'll bet. remember that we don't (yet), so please bear with us just a little longer until Ant implements the forum upgrade. :3

I think the moderators are doing the job properly on this forum and other forums' mods only weed out the really offensive posters.

However, if there was a decent search function it would make searching for relevant threads easier...