Is a "closed" sticker a possible future feature?

[M. J. Young]

Sometimes I'll have already started composing a response based on a post I read early in the thread; sometimes I'll even have posted it before I got to the end and read the close notice.

I think this is the problem.  Why would you post a reply before reading the entire thread?

O.K., I don't often do so, and when I do it's something of a mistake. It goes like this.

Either it's a brand new thread, or its a thread that I was reading probably just the day or two before; however, I'm not going to assume that it's closed--although I have noticed that Ron goes through those phases of closing a lot of threads all at once, it still catches me off guard.

Unlike Emily, I'm not going to look at the end of the thread first; I'm either going to begin at the beginning (for a new thread) or find where I left off (for one that's continuing). To start with the last post of every thread would be very time consuming.

Now, if it's a thread where a lot has been written in a very short time, there's going to be a lot to keep "in my head"; and some nights I just can't do that--so I'll sometimes open a reply thread (particularly if there's someone I want to quote and I don't want to have to hunt down his post when I'm done). I'm collecting my thoughts, sometimes responding--after all, it frequently takes me several hours at night just to read what I do cover (all of the new posts on Site, GNS, and Theory, select threads on Design, Conventions, Connections, Sorcerer, and Alyria). So I'll be composing my response, intending to post after I've read it all.

Now here's where the mistake comes. I probably opened the last page first, looked at the date/time stamp on the first post on that page, and then opened the page in front of it in a new window--I stack windows when I do forums, sometimes a dozen or more open at once. If several pages of posts have been added since my last visit, there will be several windows open--but it's happened that I've gotten to the bottom of a page and forgotten that there are more more pages, and then posted, only to realize that there were additional posts on another page.

So yes, that's where the mistake is; but it's an honest mistake.

I agree that [closed] or even [c] added to the thread title (beginning or end) would be quite sufficient; I'm not looking to lock threads, only to let us know that they're closed before we read them. I would still read such closed threads, but I would know up front that I wasn't going to write a response--which means a different mindset while reading. At least, I wouldn't get to the end of the thread with a stack of notes ready to post only to find that it would be a breach of protocol to submit it.

--M. J. Young

[Rob Carriere]

M.J.,
If I may call in the perspective of the peanut gallery: I actually liked what happened with GNS model disussion/The hard question extended. It was immediately clear what had happened: the original poster had had a (to him) satisfactory answer and someone else (you) had a different take on the subject that he felt hadn't been addressed yet.

So I started reading your new thread with fresh interest.

On the other hand, there would have been a decent chance of my missing a post on the end of the old thread entirely, as it was clearly winding down and no longer high on my monitoring priority list.

I understand the frustration you felt, but I also think you actually did your readers a service.

SR
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[xiombarg]

As to the idea of a "closed" tag...I'm leery of the psychology of it. That is, I have a feeling that a "closed" tag on a thread would be (overall) a negative, rather than a positive: "Oh, that thread is closed. I won't bother reading it now." Or, "Oh, a closed thread. Must not be worth reading." Both very reasonable reactions to seeing such a tag amid otherwise "open" threads.

In contrast, I'd like to mention such a tag would increase my interest in a thread, not decrease it. Particularly if the thread is fresh, I'd be interested in finding out why the thread was closed.

[orbsmatt]

I think the real difficulty here is that there are nearly 3000 members and over 100,000 posts.  This provides a dilemna when deciding when to close, what to lock, blah blah blah.

IMO, the only real solution is for the posters to read over a thread and determine if they should post something, whether or not it was closed.  It's far too vast a job to ask of from two administrators or even several moderators.

All in all, I haven't really noticed too big a problem with this previously on the Forge.