+PC Painter Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 I never saw the problem with being able to close our own threads. That is, until this morning. A very regular poster on here, opened a thread that made several comments that were fairly judgmental about an out-of-town cacher (who actually maintains a home in that area, and visits often), regarding placement of their caches. For most of the first page, we saw people agreeing with the OP's comments, and the thread stayed open. But as it got towards the second page, some opposing opinions were made, and the person who the thread was directed towards, posted in the thread. In fact, this person took the high road...and was gracious in their reply...and simply stated their side of the story. After this, even more people came in, in support of this person. Instead of using this to actually come to a resolution within the thread, which would seem to be the intent of posting a thread like this, the OP simply replies to this person with "guess we will have to agree to disagree", and later closes the thread, stating that it is a "local issue" to be dealt with "locally", and that people were misconstruing the issue. When everyone was chiming in, in agreement with the OP, it didn't seem to be a "local issue", and it was posted in a forum seen by people ALL over the world. It was only when opposing views were being stated, that it all of a sudden became a "local issue". Also, it's quite easy to make the excuse that people are misconstruing the issue, and it's a common tactic to be used, when people give well thought out responses that disagree with someone. It would seem to me, that it's too convenient for an OP to be able to close their own thread, when people in the thread start saying things in the thread, that the OP doesn't like. Now, I'm not talking about abusive language, or being off-topic. I'm talking about politely worded disagreement within the thread. The way I look at it, if you can't handle differing views, and people coming in to give their side of an issue (especially one which you admittedly mention should have remained a local one), then you shouldn't bring the issue into a public forum. There's probably other good reasons I haven't considered yet, but for those reasons above, I don't think the ability to close our own threads, is a good idea. It's contrary to the spirit of a discussion, if one side can close it when opinions stated, start opposing their own opinions. Am I alone in this? Comments? Link to comment
+Divine Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Comments? I'm thinking of some. Just please don't close this thread yet. Link to comment
+IV_Warrior Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 Jeremy already stated his opinion on this, in a thread still on the first page of this forum. His thoughts. No. The original poster owned the thread. They have a right to close it. Link to comment
+sept1c_tank Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 How difficult was it for you to open this topic (to discuss the closed one)? Link to comment
+PC Painter Posted January 8, 2005 Author Share Posted January 8, 2005 How difficult was it for you to open this topic (to discuss the closed one)? Well, for one thing, I couldn't post this thread in the same forum as the original, because this thread would be off-topic in the geocaching forum. You seem to imply that this thread is my attempt to reply to that thread, which was closed. If that were true, I would have simply put it in that forum, knowing that a mod would close it for being off-topic...but also knowing that the person that closed the other thread, would see it. On the contrary, this is in different (more appropriate) forum. My intent for this thread, is not as a reply to that thread. I would have liked to have replied in that thread, and that is what sparked my idea that I don't like the idea of OP's being able to close their own threads, when they don't like the responses. Link to comment
+PC Painter Posted January 8, 2005 Author Share Posted January 8, 2005 (edited) Jeremy already stated his opinion on this, in a thread still on the first page of this forum. His thoughts. No. The original poster owned the thread. They have a right to close it. My bad. It would appear that my level of upset, overrode my duty to search for a similar topic, before posting one. I fully admit that. I suppose most of us have done that before...doh! Well, in my opinion, the OP doesn't own the thread...Groundspeak owns it. I don't agree with Jeremy on this one, but it's his house and I respect that. I appreciate that the place even exists, and I realise that I sometimes won't agree with something here. That's life. Now...wouldn't it be ironic if I closed this thread, seeing that it's redundant? Edited January 8, 2005 by PC Painter Link to comment
+TotemLake Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 (edited) Actually, because it is already an ongoing discussion, it would be the right thing to do. But to answer your original question, I believe there always should be an OP ability to close the thread. It's their topic and once it is sufficiently answered to their satisfaction, they should be able to retain the right to close the thread. If you don't like it, open your own... pretty much like you did here. It isn't that difficult, and it can sometimes provide a different tangent without getting lost in the melee. Edited to add: The OP's ability to close a thread that duplicates another OPEN thread is also a plus which minimizes the Moderator's need to maintenance the duplicated thread if the OP is quick and considerate enough to do so. Edited January 8, 2005 by TotemLake Link to comment
+PC Painter Posted January 8, 2005 Author Share Posted January 8, 2005 Ok....boy am I going to get some flack and be accused of being hypocritical here...but I'll close this....out of respect, and realizing that discussion can continue in the other topic that already existed. Again...apologies for being "that guy" that didn't bother to search first. I usually do, but let my emotion override common sense this time. Link to comment
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