- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Posted by: Recon Number 54
Right now, threads are locked because they have violated a rule.
It is possible (but not always easy) to go to any locked thread and reason out why it was locked.
Giving members the ability to lock threads would undermine that feature. And the core concept that it is based on. (more of that later)
Here's the deal. A member can create a topic, but they do not own it. I get it all the time via PM and publicly. "why did you lock MY thread?"
It's not their thread. Once created, the thread belongs to this site, this community and the members of this site. It's not just theirs, it is mine, and yours. If we have something that we want to say about that subject, we should be allowed to say it (within the guidelines).
If I create a poll, and the answers are not going the way that I like, that is because the members are participating and giving their voice to the topic. If they disagree with me, I should be encouraged to hear them out, not shut them down.
No one should have the ability to silence others. We create threads, but once created they have a life of their own, a life that is given to it by the whole community, and that is a powerful thing.
The ninjas have the ability to lock because we are trusted to not use that power for personal, malicious or improper reasons. We lock threads not to "silence", but to enforce the rules that we all agreed to follow when we became members.
Locking a valid thread for any other purpose is just a way to silence others. No one, not even the topic creator, should have that ability.
one of the most intelligent posts i've ever read