# What happened to this thread?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-thread/228238>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 9, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-thread/228238 "2004-02-09T06:38:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Grumple\_Grommit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc348/32.png) [@Grumple\_Grommit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumple_Grommit)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-thread/228238/1 "2004-02-09T06:38:41Z")

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Hi, I was just wondering about what exactly happened with this thread.

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238646](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238646)

I presume that the poster was a returning troll, but then why didn’t the moderators just get rid of the whole thread instead of leaving an empty, locked thread there? I’m not trying to stir up controversy, it’s just I’ve never seen this before and I was curious.

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**Author:** ![Grumple\_Grommit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9fc348/32.png) [@Grumple\_Grommit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumple_Grommit)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-thread/228238/2 "2004-02-09T07:04:16Z")

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Oops, I didn’t notice it was just a hamster-eaten OP. This thread can be closed.

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**Author:** ![so\_da\_ne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@so\_da\_ne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/so_da_ne)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-thread/228238/3 "2004-02-09T07:05:47Z")

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I’m not sure why that thread is empty- maybe just a posting error or something. If you look in the Pit again you’ll see this thread by the same poster. [second try](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238649)

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**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-this-thread/228238/4 "2004-02-09T07:15:46Z")

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Yeah, apparently the hamsters found the post extra tasty, so they gobbled it up. When you see a thread like that one, it’s probably just a system hiccup. I closed it to let it fall off the front page. Closing a thread seems to put the lightest strain on the server, as opposed to actually removing the post.

Lynn