On Closing Unproductive Threads

[Androo]

I was a bit surprised today to find that the Starforce thread in the Arena had departed this earth. A precise cause of death has yet to be determined. Strangely, the only mark on the body was a tiny wound at the base of the skull about the diameter of, oh, I don't know...say, an antique Japanese hairpin... A poem written in elegant characters and left at the scene, the ink still wet, suggested that the thread had been terminated because our most honourable frog came to the conclusion that it was

...not particularly productive. The complaints about Starforce have been said many times in the past, in many threads.

Closed.

According to the google of the forums I did, Starforce has actually only been mentioned in about half a dozen posts previously. (That low number surprised me. Perhaps I wasn't searching correctly- could somebody double check that?) Anyway, I would respectfully submit that an open, dedicated Starforce thread would be of use, given that knowledge of the problems that Starforce may bring to users is still evolving. Perhaps a better setting for it would be the hardware / software forum.

However a more important question I believe is the .org policy of the closing of threads because a moderator deems them to be not particularly productive. While a given thread may well be boring or unproductive to many, including moderators, as long as it is of interest to some .org members and it does not break any of the .org rules, should it not be left open? What harm is done by doing so?

I don't ask those questions rhetorically. Perhaps there is an element of expense or bandwidth or something else which I'm not aware of and which makes the policy a neccessity. However, if there is not such a practical consideration, I would urge that the policy be amended.

[therother]

The Google index is pretty incomplete. The board search engine has a more complete index: try it here. I can find 42 posts with Starforce in 11 separate threads in the Arena, and 69 posts in 28 threads (not including your post or this thread) outside the Arena.

Anyhow, as a general point, comparison of anything to Hitler or the Nazis is probably not going to be particularly productive in the sense that it's not going to lead anywhere good (c.f. Godwin's Law). Within the staff structure of the Guild, Moderators are necessarily given considerable latitude to interpret the Rules within their own fiefdoms. In this case, it seems apparent that frogbeastegg felt that this thread wasn't heading in a pleasant direction, i.e. it was heading in a direction in which it was likely that rules would be broken, and was redundant in any case.

Perhaps it might be an idea, as you suggest, to open a thread (with a less inflammatory title) in the Hard- and software forum to discuss the core issues which are of interest to Members such as yourself?

[Androo]

Therother, you certainly found many more Starforce posts than I was aware of. It was pretty dopey of me not to find the board engine...

I agree with you about the thread title (not my idea of course), but I felt the thread had settled down to at least a semi-reasoned discussion.

Yes, perhaps a move of the thread to the hardware / software forum? Really, whatever, as long as those who wish to continue to discuss Starforce can do so.

[Catiline]

There were alos explicit statements of piracy, and that's always going to earn a thread the smackdown

[Beirut]

Members are welcome to discuss the pros and cons of Starforce and other anti-piracy software in the Hardware & Software forum. That would be the appropriate place.

Given the nature of how these threads can progress, though, Org. rules of posting would be strictly enforced.

[Androo]

There were alos explicit statements of piracy, and that's always going to earn a thread the smackdown

Gah, you're right Catiline! I hadn't noticed them the first time I read the thread, so I just went back to check and found one right away. Rats.

Members are welcome to discuss the pros and cons of Starforce and other anti-piracy software in the Hardware & Software forum. That would be the appropriate place.

Ok, great.

Given the nature of how these threads can progress, though, Org. rules of posting would be strictly enforced.

Great again.

[frogbeastegg]

Heh, the things you find when wandering around looking for something else.

It seems like this is all ended and happified (is that a word?) now, but I may as well explain myself. I closed the thread because the same topic has come up many times before, and it always takes the same course, decending into what can only be described as starforce bashing. This thread was clearly doing the very same, with the added bonus of the piracy statements. The issue raised in the first post was also being discussed in the GalCiv2 thread, making the topic something of a duplicate. Hence, all this taken together, it not being particularly productive.

Hehe! If I could close the threads I find boring the flightsim topics would be the first to go, closely followed by anything on football games