# Another Closed-thread query **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 21, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248 "2018-02-21T04:42:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/21 "2018-02-22T20:46:24Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > People frequently say that when it comes to thread closings, and every time I can’t help but think, “natural conversations don’t work like that”. We’re talking about GQ here. Presumably what’s of interest is the information, so if the original thread didn’t answer it there shouldn’t be a problem asking it again. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/22 "2018-02-22T21:27:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > We’re talking about GQ here. Presumably what’s of interest is the information, so if the original thread didn’t answer it there shouldn’t be a problem asking it again. You think so wouldn’t you, unfortunately conversations don’t work like that. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/23 "2018-02-22T22:32:08Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > You think so wouldn’t you, unfortunately conversations don’t work like that. It’s not really a natural conversation, though, since there may be hours or days between replies. And if people aren’t interested enough in the question to open a new thread, they can’t have been all that interested in the issue. (I do find that even when I reopen a closed thread on request, people turn out not to have been that interested in the subject after all and it soon falls off the first page.) ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/24 "2018-02-23T10:51:31Z")
I assume there isn’t a per-member control that disables starting new threads. I notice in the little box in the lower LHS it tells me that I may post new threads, which implies that there are circumstances when I may not. If usable that control would seem a natural mechanism to address this problem. Like many others, I didn’t notice who had started the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/25 "2018-02-23T14:03:07Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > I assume there isn’t a per-member control that disables starting new threads. I notice in the little box in the lower LHS it tells me that I may post new threads, which implies that there are circumstances when I may not. If usable that control would seem a natural mechanism to address this problem. Obviously, that box is not available if you are not logged in. It would also not be available if you were suspended or banned. I believe that it is possible to put people on sabbatical so they can read the board but can’t post, but the procedure is more complicated than would be warranted for a short term problem. At any rate, my strategy seems to have worked, since **Steven Estes** posted only a single thread today. (He still hasn’t replied to my PMs, however.) Now I’m working on getting him to post in the right forum.😉 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/26 "2018-02-24T00:45:37Z")
Can’t you take away someone’s ability to post new threads? Or is that only in a newer version/some add on you guys are loathe to mess with? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/27 "2018-02-24T02:31:15Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Can’t you take away someone’s ability to post new threads? Or is that only in a newer version/some add on you guys are loathe to mess with? I just commented on that in my second sentence above. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248/28 "2018-02-24T19:22:38Z")
FYI, I have now reopened all the closed threads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-closed-thread-query/809248.md?page=1)