You know twickster, that apology might mean something if you had quit typing after the words, I apologize.
And frankly, I have searched multiple ways to come up with Elbows bitching about the mods, as twickster says,
I’m not seeing it. Care to supply links to all these instances?
Gee, Twickster, I truly appreciate the effort, but I was not offended by the mention of my undergarments.
I was offended by being characterized as ‘yet again complaining about a mod decision’, said undergarments aside. In ten years I have rarely ever complained about the modding on the board, and have repeatedly sided with the mods, as I did in the BigT thread under discussion. Not only was it uncalled for, but a terribly unfair characterization of my posting history here.
And, to be clear, I didn’t open this thread to complain about the modding, but to ask for clarification. As this kind of thread closure, leaving posters cited by the OP in his final post, unable to respond, I have never seen before.
I have to admit this thread has been extremely elucidating for me. I still fail to see how the thread being 4 pages long is pertinent, or whether people were reiterating, for that matter. Or how a mod can ‘know’ that none of the 7 cited posters wanted to respond or would have said anything new.
And I never will. Because although I came to the right forum, asked politely and respectfully, a valid question, the first two mods into the thread, within 25 mins just stopped by to make cheap jokes, feeling no need to address the issue raised. When you finally responded it was three sentences, 25 words, including the aforementioned ‘it was four pages long’ and ‘no one had anything new to say, so I closed it’. Not even an attempt to address the points I was raising.
I repeatedly asked several direct questions of the mods pertaining to this issue, always politely and respectfully, and none felt the need to respond.
So, while I learned nothing about the issue I raised or how it can be justified as fair to the other posters in that thread, I have, indeed, learned a great deal about the moderation of this board today.
Oh, and that an obtuse almost apology excuses a personal attack, in moderator world.
So, is it okay to make comments of that nature about another Doper now in ATMB? May we follow twickster’s example without getting a mod note or a Warning? The comments would have to be limited to the words that twickster used and did not find insulting.
Don’t count on it! It won’t always happen that way.
It doesn’t matter to me who has the last word. What is important is that everyone gets to talk things out as long as the individual is abiding by the rules. If the subject matter becomes an honest to goodness train wreck, it should be closed. If anyone is being psychologically abused and is already mentally ill (as happened a couple of years ago), the thread should be closed.
I’m sure there are other good reasons for closing a thread. I personally disagree with twickster on this one. Once an OP has asked that a thread be closed, she or he should be expected not to post again. Closed is closed.
I too liked Ed’s way of closing down. He gave a deadline. That seemed to please a lot of people.
But if the conversation is being productive, why stop?
“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need.” – The Rolling Stones
This is not a polite statement. The rules don’t require it to be, which makes me all the more puzzled about why you would bother to characterize it as polite.
This doesn’t look like you were asking for a clarification. It looks like you were complaining about moderation. Once again, this is the forum for complaints about moderation. I don’t get why you need to say this.
I came to this thread ready to dig in and give it an objective look (I’ve not looked at any of this stuff until just now), but so far, I think we are looking at two different threads. Point me to the one you were describing in the quotes and I’ll take a look.
My bad. I was not trying to take the thread off topic. I honestly agree with you that people should be allowed to respond to a thread before it is closed. I already mentioned how I think that could be handled.
And I agree with you that twickster’s comment was inappropriate. Not because of the words used, but because it unnecessarily implied that you were a concern troll. You are most definitely not. And such an insult from a moderator carries a lot more weight. Like I said, they have jackhammers.
This is not an apology. It is a smartass comment.
My son also has a problem taking responsiblity for his actions. When he makes a mistake, instead of apologising and owning his actions, he lashes out. I think he realizes that he fucked up (and sees that others realize this too), is embarrassed by it, and this makes him angry. So he makes a silly fuss instead of simply making a sincere apology.
We’re trying very hard to teach him that it’s OK to make a mistake and be sorry for it. Of course, my son is only 3 years old…but still, it’s never too late to learn. 
I’m sorry you found the word ‘hell’ so impolite, please substitute ‘heck’, if you like.
Sorry, but this completely baffles me. Two different threads? What are you talking about, I don’t understand? The thread, in question has already been linked to, up thread, if that helps you out.
And though I repeatedly pointed out I wasn’t complaining about the moderation, only seeking clarification, you still feel I was complaining? See, I don’t know what else I could do.
The only thing I was complaining about was that no mod addressed the actual issue I raised, answered any of the direct questions asked, and that I was personally attacked.
I’m truly sorry you don’t seem to understand, but, quite honestly I can’t fathom why. I think I was polite and respectful and had a valid issue to discuss. I made numerous attempts to engage a moderator to help me understand an application of thread closure that I had not seen before and that struck me as not really fair to the posters cited by BigT. in his final post.
The other people in this thread don’t seem to be having the understanding difficulties that you are experiencing. I’d love to help you understand and clear this up but, honestly, I’ve repeated myself several times, and I just don’t see how it could be made any clearer.
The tone of the OP was not polite. Neither was the diction. You’ve misrepresented your own post. Changing it now doesn’t help me understand why you needed to misrepresent it in the first place, it merely leads me to conclude you did it on purpose.
Similarly, the OP in no way seeks clarification. You are clearly complaining about the thread closing:
What am I missing? What were you asking to have clarified in the OP of this thread?
If this is the clarification you sought. Allow me to clarify. We do not have a “protocol” for closing threads. We take them on a case-by-case basis, and the analysis is forum-dependent. I’m now reviewing the previous thread.
Folks, these are your mods. Classy arent they.
Here is my problem. You made that long post and then immediately (two minutes later according to the time stamps on your last post and the thread report requesting closure. That makes it look like you really were trying to game the system so that you could have the last word. Next time you want to leave a discussion, please don’t do it that way.
Well, I’m sorry that you feel that way. Of course, people can interpret things differently, and while you feel I was, in fact, not being polite, I feel I was polite and respectful. As no one else, in 70 posts, seems to think I wasn’t being polite, perhaps it’s just you.
Everyone is certainly entitled to an opinion, especially on something as nebulous as tone. As evidence I would offer your own posts here which exhibit a very hostile and combative tone, though I’m certain you don’t see it that way.
If find this, however, to be completely disingenuous:
when this is what I repeatedly asked:
Pretty clearly not a complaint, a request for clarification.
If you are being sincere perhaps you’d like to address the personal attack that characterized me as having yet another complaint about mod actions, when nothing could be further from the truth.
I asked Twickster for a cite, when she made this remark, but, of course, she failed to respond.
After much objection I was offered an apology for having mentioned my knickers.:dubious:
Actually, that was me (although I think Ed may have done it once or twice). I may have done the same in this case, too. In the Pit, where the presumption is that threads stay open unless there is a good reason, that makes even more sense. OTOH, I’ve also pointed out several times that anybody who disagrees with a thread closing need only start a thread here requesting reopening (or PM or email me).
In the now-closed thread, it seems like the comments to which you responded were mostly about you–and not about the rules. That makes the case for this approach somewhat weaker. Moreover, the OP of this thread has said she isn’t interested in posting in the other thread (please correct me if I am wrong about this) and none of the other participants have requested that we reopen it (this too). So I’m not sure I see a point to reopening it.
Which of these quotes is from your OP? 
I’d like to focus on your OP and your request for clarification. If you want to raise that issue, you may start a thread about it.
I posted this in The Pit almost exactly a year ago. To the extent I have a thread closing “protocol” this is it:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11173361&postcount=188
I’ll add that paragraph 4 might be a little misleading as applied to ATMB. When I moderate in ATMB, I still apply it, but there are more good reasons to close threads in this forum than in The Pit.
Add in your addressing a ‘moderator note’ to BigT, here in my thread, and it’s just getting too silly for me. Wherein you basically did seem to understand the point I was making, for all your earlier claims.:dubious:
It’s pretty clear that you’re just being disingenuous and obtuse, in my opinion.
I can see that there will be no correction of the grossly uncalled for misrepresentation of my posting history, by a mod, leveled at me for daring to ask some simple questions.
This is the issue! What you’ve written above is the protocol I’ve previously witnessed, and was specifically not applied in the case being discussed in this thread. Hence the discussion and request for clarification.
Did you even read what you posted?:dubious:
Sillier and sillier it seems!
Clearly we’re not going to get anywhere here. I’ve done my best to try and be polite and to get clarification, but we’re just going in circles.
You win, I’m done.