I flag any post which I feel like has been made too many times or is gonna incite hostile response.
I also have many things to complain about Infinite, 343, Halo’s future and such, but honestly they just end up being turd slinging comment chains.
Such posts may start with a strong discussion topic but almost always end up off topic and hostile.
would it be better to report the individual spoiling the conversation, rather than the conversation itself?
I report both individuals or topics.
For example if the main post is about stuff like “Spartan Genders” which I think is an excellent topic to discuss but the first sentence OP types is “OMG BIGOTS AND SEXISTS” I just flag it. It’s not gonna go well.
I hope I wasn’t flagged then xD
jokes aside I appreciate that, every time it gets brought up someone comes along and either does the stuff you mentioned or the opposite side saying to “Cope and Seeth” acting as if some of us are asking for a replacement to what’s there, rather than wanting simple additions at best, assuming the worst and it gets very tiresome when that happens.
Strictly speaking you are reporting the post that is an issue. This is linked to both the individual and the conversation (which makes sense - you report exactly the content that is problematic and not some other posts by that person).
Whether it’s good or not to lock the whole conversation is another question worth discussing. Probably having one post reported frequently should not be the reason for locking the conversation automatically. Having several posts getting flagged in quick succession might be an indicator of a flame war and that might actually warrant an automatic lock to get people to cool down.
especially when nowadays a lot of people tend to assume the worst about things, especially when trust around certain topics have been strained thus resulting in further flame wars, or some people just love stirring the pot.
I personally think that stopping a conversation dead in its tracks is not a healthy way to go, finding the individuals that keep on spoiling the convo though would be better, but likely much more work.
Lol I think you need to go back to the post that got locked to get the context of why the conversation even started in the first place because you wrote all of that ignoring that one piece of information.
This is chronologically where our conversation started bud 
Notice nothing about microtransactions or customization being brought up by me? Just the art style, that’s it.
The second problem is simply talking about this issue is sometimes grounds for a ban. You can also have a great topic ruined by 1 or 2 trolls that come in and flame the post, and get others to flame back, while more flag spam the post until it gets nuked. Where offenders should be the ones who’s replies are removed, instead of the entire thread suffereing for it.
Imo removing problem comments when necessary would be far superior than locking the entire thread, and unleashing the ban hammer upon every slight.
When a post is removed a reason should be specified on both the post as well as sent to the offender, so that that the individual can learn from their mistake. This would also provide transparency to the actions taken instead of mystery deletions/ bannings.
That is assuming the action taken was justified in the first place.
Maybe then these repeat threads will come to a close once the discussion is allowed to conclude naturally.
I agree, fully… (had to extend it to match the world limit due to the 20 character restriction) cheese
That’s because we have people in this community who unfortunately have to bring their identity politics into EVERY YOINKING ASPECT OF EVERYTHING IN THEIR LIVES. I think it’s because they’re miserable, and self loathing, but I digress. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that even 343I and Microsoft champion these small protected classes of people even when it’s mostly people among them who are stirring up problems.
Or people who point them out thinking they’re addressing the issue.
Comments like what you pointed out and how you addressed it lead to unnecessary conflict in a forum about a video game. It’s better to just leave it alone and/or not talk about it in the first place no matter what political spectrum or ideologies you hail from.
Because it’s literally all you can see, and you’re literally the most blatant shining example of what I’m talking about in my previous comment. If you aren’t starting an argument over the bulldog (which is arguably the worst shotgun halo has ever had by DPS, and reload action time alone.) You’re starting something over identity politics that you can’t even finish without knee-jerk flagging something. It’s like you exist to lock down things that make you even slightly uncomfortable. How about you just play the game, and talk about the game?
So because you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist? Are you an ostrich IRL?
Didn’t start the fire buddy.
Doesn’t mean you have to dump gasoline on it buddy.
reckon its a defence mechanism for some?
Aren’t some of these temporary locks? That’s a common practice on public forums to reduce reactive comments. If what you have to say is important now it will be in four hours.
Unless you can point it out. At least one instance of it then you may have an argument but it seems like no one can quote anything