Please don't close the crazy threads so fast.

[Colibri]

I have reconsidered the closing, and moved the reopened thread to the Pit. The post below gives my reasoning for the closing and reopening.

@Colibri

[Moderating]

I closed this thread because Aram Hittite KURD was spouting incoherent nonsense and beginning to insult his opponents, including accusing them of genocide as in the post quoted above. This was not appropriate for GQ, and considering that AHK wasn’t providing any evidence for his assertions a move to Great Debates would have just resulted in an even worse trainwreck. Upon reconsideration, I’ve decide to reopen it and move it to the Pit so people can express themselves more freely. My apologies to the Pit mods.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

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.

@Senegoid

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.

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.