In this thread, we actually had a Hittite KURD correcting all kinds of ancient history, but the Colibri made it go away.
C’mon. I don’t come here to interact with sensible people, I come here to watch dopers interact with nuts. Plus my brother sometimes posts, which is nice.
Please let the wacky threads play out longer.
I agree. With the caveat that many ordinary ‘dopers’ are also simultaneously ‘nuts’.
Generally I would agree. However, that one (and I won’t provide a link) was heading for an early train wreck. GQ isn’t the place.
What I’m wondering about, is the number of threads that get closed quickly (even though some of them are, you know, actually attracting some dialog among Dopers), with the suggestion to open a new thread in another forum, as opposed to simply moving the thread to another forum.
Sometimes it seems like the mods just flip a coin, to decide if a thread should be closed with the suggestion to re-start in another forum, vs. just moving it.
That Kurd/Hittite thread could have been very interesting. I don’t understand why the thread was closed instead of the “Kurd” poster being moderated.
Including this one.
But he used the imperial “we” to close it.
Yep. If you want to continue an actual discussion on the topic, just open a new thread and reference the old one.
But don’t expect the mods to keep a GQ thread open for your entertainment.
Perhaps they should be herded through the pit, which everyone seems to decry isn’t what it once was? No explanation required, just quietly shifted to the pit. Still close them as needed, of course, when the moment seems right.
It was just a thought.
Rotten apples can spoil the whole barrel pretty fast. Just look at the rest of the net.
I trust the mod’s judgment in closing (or even deleting) threads that have no promise of contributing to the discussion here or even poisoning the whole well.
What the fuck else are 99% of the threads on this board for?
Entertainment. But not at the expense of turning up the flames or turning down the intelligence or opening the floodgates of bullshit. 99% of the internet should fill those needs, should you feel them.
I have reconsidered the closing, and moved the reopened thread to the Pit. The post below gives my reasoning for the closing and reopening.
As I said above, accusing people who disagreed with him of genocide was way over the top and was what prompted me to close the thread. Based on previous experience with similar posters, I don’t think someone like AHK would have responded to moderation and the most likely result would have been his rapid banning due to failure to follow moderator instructions.
I’ll often close a thread in GQ rather than moving it to GD or IMHO if people have started insulting one another or a trainwreck is otherwise developing. If there is a worthwhile discussion or debate to be had, I think it’s better to start fresh so people won’t be snarking or responding directly to previous comments and attacks.
Also, sometimes it isn’t clear from the OP what the poster’s intention is: debate or ranting about something. In such cases I think it’s generally better to allow the OP to decide if he wants to pursue the discussion; and if so, which tack he wants to take in another forum.
In some cases, threads may be started by people who are clearly mentally ill and can’t make a coherent argument, and I’ll close them just because I don’t think ridiculing such people is appropriate.
I was just thinking that it could be sent to the pit instead of the cornfield.
ETA Thanks.
ETA2: Hm, you’re probably right about the mentally ill issue. Good point.
The loony wackos are held to the same rules as the rest of us (rest of you, perhaps). This one was throwing around insults in GQ. As with anyone else, that’s going to result in moderation. We’ve had wackos that have been able to toe the line and obey the rules, and they’ve lasted just fine. For years, some of them.
I hope everyone also notes that the thread in question was a Zombie, started in 2005. The general rule is that unless you have some new, important info to add, the thread gets closed.
A thread on the same topic, opened in the correct forum by a sane poster, has a chance to develop its own following.
A thread that has already generated heated exchanges or invited insane responses is liable to continue in that vein regardless of the forum to which it is moved.
While such choices are an imperfect art, they are not generally based on whim.
Look more closely. While the thread did start in 2005, most of the “fun” didn’t start until Aram Hittite KURD returned on 7-20-2013.
Ellen Cherry suspended this member because she said she was 12 but the story was in the past tense and she COULD be 13 now.
Ah, it was worth a try.
I wish that thread could have stayed open a bit longer; then I could have mentioned that I was totally making shit up about what the word “Lord” meant. Lord knows there is someone, somewhere who probably thought I was informing them of something true. 
I also think the crazy threads should stay open longer; that seems to be where Dopers really shine. I’m not entirely sure what that says about us. 