# A closed forum

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [June 27, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255 "2001-06-27T00:44:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255/1 "2001-06-27T00:44:58Z")

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**A closed forum**

This phrase is beside a little icon of a padlock on the bottom of the “first page” of the SDMB. Have any forums (OK, _fora_, for you purists) ever been closed?

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**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2001, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255/2 "2001-06-27T02:42:49Z")

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Both _forums_ and _fora_ are acceptable pluralizations in current English.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2001, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255/3 "2001-06-27T02:42:51Z")

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[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=8&daysprune=1000](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=8&daysprune=1000)  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=9&daysprune=1000](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=9&daysprune=1000)  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10&daysprune=1000](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=10&daysprune=1000)  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=11&daysprune=1000](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=11&daysprune=1000)

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255/4 "2001-06-27T16:06:20Z")

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Of course, those are somewhat of a special case, since they were never actually closed. They were just born that way. Well, sort of. They started off as “archive” fora, which isn’t quite closed, but is even less quite open. “Closed” was vB’s best guess on what to call them when it made the conversion.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255/5 "2001-06-27T21:10:19Z")

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Neither open nor closed. Hmmm. Do those fora contain their boundary points? That should help to settle the issue.😃

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-closed-forum/70255/6 "2001-06-28T15:13:01Z")

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We locked them off to keep people from playing in them. I guess it’s an irresistible impulse or something, folks that managed to slide over into them just couldn’t help themselves. Like “Kilroy was here.”

your humble TubaDiva  
Administrator