Can you give me a general idea for when the OP can request to have a thread closed? In particular, when the thread has taken an unexpected direction, does the OP still have “rights” to close it? I assume it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to pit someone, and request the thread to be closed before they could respond, but what other guidelines are there?
Let me be explicit that I haven’t seen any abuse of thread closings, and anyone who feels wronged can (and has) opened a new thread. It’s just intellectual curiosity for me.
Hal
An OP can request a thread closing at any time. That’s not the question, the question is whether the Moderator will respond favorably to the request. It’s probably best to submit such a request via email, or by a post within the thread.
The question of whether the Moderator will close a thread: it depends on the whys and wherefores. I don’t think there are any particular guidelines. We’re reluctant to close a reasonable discussion, even if it’s strayed somewhat from the topic.
IMHO, it’s not so much a right as a privilege that the OP can ask that a thread take a particular direction and avoid a classic sidetrack that many similar threads have gone down, he/she can post a request with some moral authority to get back to the point of the OP, and he/she can request that a thread that has degenerated into something not useful be closed. It’s kind of a sense that the person who started the thread has some say, albeit only a slightly greater than others’ influence, in guiding its growth. But only the Mods. have the right to make the decision whether to close – if they consider that a useful discussion without flamefests is being carried on, even though the OP has been answered to the OPer’s satisfaction, they can leave it open.
(That’s sort of what Dex said – but there has historically been a sense that the reasonable wishes of the OP will be honored as regards his thread, subject to the greater good of the board superseding those wishes, and I wanted to highlight that.)