Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarahfeena
GFactor, I'm happy to have you leave the thread open, but I'm curious, why the waiting period?
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I've been experimenting with this approach, especially in cases where the OP requests the thread to be closed.
1. I see no reason to close a thread like this immediately in the first place;
2. Sometimes the OP requests a thread closure because the it backfired. Traditionally, those threads haven't been closed in the Pit. I intend to continue that tradition, but as I've said elsewhere, the fact that the thread turned against the OP doesn't mean it has to stay open forever, so this is a middle course. If people think the thread should stay open, they've got a chance to object; if they just want to say something before it closes, they've got a shot at it.
3. It saves me the trouble of reading every post in a long-ish thread like this just to make sure there's not some reason to keep it open.
Here's my current thinking on thread closures, generally. These are not rules at all, they are just an explanation of how I think about requests to close or reopen a thread.
1. They are procedural. In most cases, nobody has a
right to have a thread open or closed. It's about convenience and efficiency. There are some special cases, in which there may be a great reason to close a thread, but in most cases, those reasons are based on some more substantive concern.
2. Starting a thread that gets closed isn't going to draw any sort of warning from me unless there's something else going on. I might warn somebody for trolling or opening a thread that I've specifically told them not to open, but beyond that, it's just a procedural thing.
3. I'm always willing to reconsider a thread closing or refusal to close a thread. As I said, it's procedural, and it's not a big deal.
4. I usually start with the assumption that the thread stays open and need to be convinced that it needs to be closed. But this is a procedural assumption, I don't think there is a right answer in most of these cases.
5. If I close a thread, that doesn't imply that another thread can't be started on the same topic.
6. Unless there's a good reason to close a thread immediately, I try to give folks an opportunity to make that last post or convince me to leave the thread open.
7. I've got limited time and attention, so if a thread is very long, I'm more inclined to close it, subject to all of the other stuff I've said.