<mark>Do not discuss forum moderation.</mark>
OT21
*"*Over the past year or so, we’ve noticed a shift in the useage and momentum of the Off Topic threads. Frequently, the topic of discussion revolves around “winning” pages, reaching certain page landmarks, or how to achieve X rank most quickly. Instead of being a place to set aside the ins and outs of the forums and focus on other things as it once was, it’s become a place where people brag about boosting ranks rather than achieving them organically, boast about spamming the off topic thread, and, well, spam.In fact, just today, there’s plenty of talk and discussion about how people are proud of **spamming 30 pages for the sole purpose of making the OT thread reach 117 pages. In addition, we’ve noticed people using hashtags as a badge of pride for spamming a thread.**This is pretty far removed from the spirit of Yo! days and what the OT threads are supposed to be for. We, as a moderation group, have watched this shift and have decided to lock the OT thread for now. We will revisit the idea of an OT at a future date but for now, we have reached an impasse with the OT threads."
I can understand things like spamming or just using it for rank boost, but the thing is created around being off topic and not focusing on one thing, isn’t it?
“Instead of being a place to set aside the ins and outs of the forums and focus on other things as it once”
It focuses on plenty of other things, and restricting it to “being a place to set aside the ins and outs of the forums” why bother to call it OT?
“spamming 30 pages for the sole purpose of making the OT thread reach 117 pages.”
Some pages were indeed spam, but I guess being off topic and boosting the pages by just chatting in a OT thread in order to reach a goal is spamming. Having fun quote filled conversations are spam, apparently. 
Not every single of those pages were spam, they were fun and hilarious conversations people were having for the majority of the pages.
“In addition, we’ve noticed people using hashtags as a badge of pride for spamming a thread.”
Those pages aren’t entirely spam as you claim. People using hashtags to be proud of collectively reaching a goal by discussing things OT on an OT thread. Wow, pretty outrageous.