Locking threads

[Chesh97]

I am curious as to why threads are locked. Case in point, introduction posts, & site questions?

I thought a discussion board was exactly that... "discussions". Is there a purpose for these threads being locked, and not allowing other members to contibute to the questions? First forum I've ever seen do that.

 

[Scutter01]

You've pointed out two of the three places where threads are typically locked. The third being classified ads.

In the case of Forum Support, once the question is answered, the thread is locked to prevent it from being cluttered with extraneous chatter. In theory, it's supposed to make it easier to find answers, however given that this is not the first time this question has been asked in the "Forum Support" forum, it's clear that it's not working.

In the Introductions section, intros are closed after 24 hours because we've found that if we keep them open longer, the "New Posts" link tends to fill up almost completely with Intro bumps. Members complained that it was tedious weeding through those to get to regular threads with new posts in them.

Classified ads are closed when the item has been sold or withdrawn. Extraneous chatter is not allowed in those threads.

On rare occasions, other threads that don't fall into one of those three categories will be locked. Each of these are on a case-by-case basis and are generally administrative in nature.