I am new here and trying to figure out exactly what it means when a post is locked? Does it just mean no one else can reply to the original thread but it is still visible? or is it no longer visible to anyone anymore?
yeah, the first one. Nobody can post to it. It will still be visible, but since nobody will be able to post to it, it will eventually fall off the main thread list. It can still be searched for, however.
Moderators usually refer to closing a post, but it means exactly the same thing as locking it.
Yep, locked or closed means that the thread is still visible but no one can post to it (well, technically mods or admins can).
Threads that have been made invisible are typically referred to around here as being “cornfielded” or “wished away to the cornfield”, which is a reference to an old Twilight Zone episode called “It’s A Good Life”.
It’s not as widely used here, but you may also see threads that have been made invisible referred to as being sent to Coventry. This refers to a short story called Coventry by Robert Heinlein, though technically it’s an old British phrase that pre-dates that. In the story, Coventry was a place of exile.
NB - they don’t lock individual posts, they lock threads.
Usual reasons for locking a thread include:
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A years-old thread resurrected by a post that adds no substantial information to the discussion. This is called a zombie thread.
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A thread that has become derailed by arguments and sniping among the participants.
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A thread that was pointless, hateful or trolling from the first post.
I also replied to the PM you sent. Moving forward, It’s not necessary to PM a mod and start a thread asking the same question. You did that with your initial request as well, which I also responded by PM and in your thread.
Thanks.
And here’s the wiki for the original English phrase.
Short version. Origin unknown, maybe something to do with the English Civil War with Royalist troops captured at Birmingham being sent as prisoners to the Parliamentarian stronghold of Coventry. First cite in OED is 1703 with an earlier 1691 cite in square brackets (indicating the quotation is relevant to the development of the sense but not directly illustrative of it.)
I have never seen anyone use “sent to Coventry” to describe a deleted thread.
I believe I’ve seen that phrase used here more than once in that context. And the meaning was always immediately obvious to me.
It’s discussed in this old thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=499959&postcount=31
Even in ATMB, I learn things. Thanks Dope.
More common around here than “sent to Coventry” is any expression that the thread was moved to the cornfield, wished to the cornfield, disappeared into the cornfield, etc. That references a Twilight Zone episode.
And here all this time I thought it was a ref. to Field of Dreams (where old ballplayers fade away into the cornfield)…
The question has been asked and answered in this thread and in PM, so I’m locking this thread.