Locked Topics - Listing Broken Rules

[Sir_Noncy_Dorp]

Here I am once again teetering on the edge of breaking the rules, but I only ask that my concerns be heard and given thought.

I’ve taken a decent amount of time now scrolling through forums on Waypoint, getting a good feel for the new system. While doing so, I’ve spotted several locked threads. Some of these seem to have a very obvious reason for being locked, while others don’t. I’m not here to object or argue about whether or not these threads deserved to be locked and blocked off from public access, instead I merely wish to present an idea.

When locking a thread, can we make it so that a reason for why the thread is getting locked could be given? Now, I know a message is sent to the author (the offender in this case) explaining why, but to observers the reasons for a post being locked may be more obscure. Sure, there’s a whole list of rules for the forums and what to avoid doing, heck, I’m aware that I’m close to breaking a rule concerning formal discussion of moderation decisions, but at the same time, should we really expect everyone to memorize these rules by heart? Not to mention, some people learn better by finding examples as opposed to being given a long list of text to look at.

Furthermore, I think having to state a reason for the locking of a topic also benefits you, the Monitors, as well. By providing reason you prove that you’re not inspired by some sort of bias or other form of ulterior motive. Newcomers seeing topics getting closed, for what could be potentially perceived as for no reason, could end up being a red flag for them, and end up chasing them away from the site.

To conclude, perhaps this was already a possibility that was discussed that was ultimately decided against. If so, I think maybe this should be stated somewhere in the forum rules and guidelines. Maybe just a clear statement that says, “no reason needs to be given for topic closure,” or something along the lines of that. No offense was intended in the idea of this post. I, as an individual merely wish to help progress the understanding of moderation decisions from an observer’s perspective.

(Please note that the subject of this post is an idea that can be applied to moderation decisions, and not a post about these said decisions. No criticism, question, or concern of a group or a singular moderation decision can be found in this post, and therefore does not fit the category listed in the Forum Rules & Guidelines.)

Thank you for reading.

[Accessing]

My thread was locked and I didn’t receive any reason or message from the Monitors. But being in this community for some time now, the posture taken towards moderation is that I am not owed an reason or time to be argued with or even just explained to. The idea of participating here in the forum is to just know, and so until I know and repost my thread for a better conversation it hopefully would not be locked. Until then, so long as I avoid the obvious rules spamming the topic or copying the exact same thing I can only hope to be as smart as the monitors that allow me to participate in discussions.

The forums still new so I know they are also very busy, I mean some of them you can’t even DM and if you could I can only imagine the shit storm of chaos it would look like in their inbox. I already see several mundane threads literally the same conversations over and over, Sprint in Infinite and which weapon does everyone like blah blah blah to each their own but reading the guidelines this place has less rules than most and more of draw to self responsibility to kind of police your own conversations to not be stupid.

When I see other forums and I see threads are locked I’m typically not put off by that and don’t really expect anyone else to be, sure you can’t engage in the conversation anymore but on this world wide web that same conversation can be made or found somewhere else.

[BIGB_EC]

I like the idea but like Shawn4Japan said we are not owed an explanation. I think it will help users understand some of the lesser known rules. The new forums might bring about new rules and lead to some of the older rules being less broken. Lastly as a refresher one could review the forum rules on a regular basis but I doubt that will happen.