To preface this post: I am not, in any way, shape, or form, disparaging any staff or moderators of this forum. I am not whining about the rules, and I do try to follow them the best I can. I understand the mission statement of this forum and understand it completely and agree with it.
Now onto the post.
I have been a member here for nearly 3 years, and most of that time has been spent lurking. I post every now and again, mostly to answer peoples questions that I believe I know the answer too, or something similar. Otherwise this site has educated me with more things about AR’s that I could have dreamed of when I first entered the AR world 5 years ago. It has been a tremendous resource for me, and I have really appreciated this site.
That being said…
I have noticed a major influx of threads being locked in the past 6 months or so. Take a look at the AR General Discussion, AR technical, or Custom build, ect. and you will find many locked threads of the first several pages. Of course, locking threads that go awry and start becoming completely off-topic and retarded should be locked or deleted. But a trend I seem to be noticing is that several moderators (not naming names) seem to be quite happy with the lock button on threads that don’t seem to be against the rules in any way, and that personal opinion or mood seems to dictate the thread’s locking. I have seen thread that I started to become very interested in suddenly be locked because it was “silly” or something. Locking of threads because the OP “found his answer” also seems to be a trend, which I am not quite sure is necessary either.
The other thing that seems to be happening is threads being locked without a single explanation. There is no warning, nothing seems to be wrong, but it just suddenly locks. For no reason. No explanation. No way to tell what mod locked it so you can’t contact him.
Maybe my opinions don’t matter, or maybe I don’t know the whole details, but I just thought I’d comment on this. It seems to somewhat be getting out of control and is starting to make this forum sort of non-welcoming.
I have noticed alot of theads being locked as well, but usually due to a new member not using the search feature. I imagine this site takes up some space, so “culling” the questions that have already been answered seems reasonable.
I haven’t noticed any threads being unnecessarily being locked. I do notice them being locked, but usually for a reason that warrants it.
Frankly, I’d rather have an active group of moderators than a group that lets the masses have free reign over this forum.
[QUOTE=]I haven’t noticed any threads being unnecessarily being locked. I do notice them being locked, but usually for a reason that warrants it.
Frankly, I’d rather have an active group of moderators than a group that lets the masses have free reign over this forum. [/QUOTE]
Neither do I. However, I can list for you probably 10 threads made in the past month where it was locked for hardly any reason. I won’t because I don’t want to name any mods/staff.
There is a difference between a thread be warranted a lock, and a thread being locked for no reason that can be explained. Is it well within the power for the mods to lock any thread they want? Sure. But it can’t get out of hand.
The reason for the lock was… “In no way is the a technical thread in any way shape or form.”
This was posted in GENERAL DISCUSSION. We have an AR Technical Discussion forum, an AR General Discussion forum, and then finally General Discussion which has a tacked thread stating “If you want to talk about topics of interest in the news, political items, or what you did last Saturday night, the GD is the place for it.”
On the first page of General Discussion there is a thread about some guy’s father in law, a thread based on a funny picture of multiple optics on one rifle, a thread on the size of watches, a thread about a “zombie repellant” t-shirt, and others… but my thread about stenciling numbers on a rifle was locked because it isn’t technical?
If it should have been locked for anything my thread should have been in “AR General Discussion”, but I considered it to be more about spencils/painting than the rifle itself.
To me it really hurts the legitimacy of the mods’ authority when they start locking threads arbitrarily. In this case, I would guess it is a personal grudge. There was no reason to lock that thread.
I, too, am a casual poster on this board. I mostly lurk as my knowledge of AR rifles is far inferior to 99% of the people who are members of this forum.
I have had threads that I have started “locked” for reasons I have not wholly agreed with. I think individuals who are new to the board, or who have no ongoing “cred” with the mainstream, frequent, posters, are much more likely to have their threads locked.
Perhaps a bit more tolerance of those less informed members would make this forum a bit more of a friendly place for some casual members.
Posting a curse “try Google,” or “there are a hundred threads on the board about that, try the search feature” while true, are not very welcoming, nor in the slightest, helpful.
There is a reason this site is as informative and as great as it is. The mods have a reputation and a standard to uphold. You know this is a beyond average site when you have guys like LAV, RB1, Defoor and Mac ACTIVELY answering questions and putting up with us.
If you want to run wild a trip to TOS is in order.
Yes Lamarbrog asking how to stencil your rifle to look like a military rack number is as rump ranger ghey (no offense to the rump rangers out there) as color filling your roll mark.
I suspect this thread was not meant to be an “us against them” thread, pitting the experts against the unclean commoners such as myself. My whole purpose in posting in this thread is to suggest that a bit more tolerance might be in order.
If you have a guy who has been a member for one day, he may be a total novice who deserves some slack to welcome him aboard. On the other end of the spectrum, if a member who has eighty semi-cogent posts and more than a years’ membership, who asked a borderline question, don’t snipe at the op nor automatically lock the thread because some moderator thinks the thread is not worthy of this forum.
I suggest a pm to the op informing them either how to solve their problem, or how to make their question more palatable to the mainstream or some other such “warning” or notice before the thread is summarily locked.
I don’ think that is too much to ask.
I must add that this forum is AWESOME and I have learned a lot from reading it. I respect the difficult job the moderators have and I understand their purpose and, I think, their goals.
There are two misconceptions that pervade these kinds of discussions and they are fundamental problems with the way some people think.
[ol]
[li]The idea that all forums are for all people. They are not. The neurosurgery forum is not for me, nor is NAMBLA, or knitting, or the Toyota Prius… If people are unhappy with the way that M4C operates they are welcome to move on. I have been gone from here for quite some time because I don’t like the way the forum is trending. No big deal.
[/li][li]The idea that expecting people to read old threads or use the search function is somehow “mean” or elitist, or that it has to do with the new poster also being new to the topic. It’s not. Failure to do those things, however, IS entirely indicative of special snowflake disease as well as intellectual laziness. The desire to catch one’s own fish vs. having the fish caught, cleaned, seasoned, cooked, and cut up into bite-sized pieces for you is not something that should be rewarded.
[/li][/ol]
Maybe the “start new thread” button should be re-programmed to take posters with less than 1,000 posts to the search feature.
We are making an effort to transition non-duplicate threads to their correct forums.
Threads that are started, like “which is better?”, or “how do I change a stock?” or other mundane things are locked for purely housekeeping reasons, and in almost every case, there is something posted in the thread, or a PM sent.
We can’t expect everyone to agree with our housekeeping methods, but as a whole I don’t see us locking threads for no reason whatsoever.
If there is ever a problem, the first step should be contacting the mod/staff who locked it VIA PM, and then escalating it up to staff/senior staff if you really don’t like the explanation you were given.
That being said, there may not be much more to say than is said when the thread is locked, so I wouldn’t expect our guys to write out the Iliad in response either.
Im not sure what the key to this forums success is, I believe the staff and mods do or else I wouldnt be lurking here almost daily for 2+ years. I do know however that the key to failure is trying to please everyone. I had a post removed from a thread recently, I was a bit about it, but oh well, Im still here. I try to keep my mouth shut and just search and read mostly. God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth, perhaps he intended for us to listen twice as much as we talk.
But what rule did I break? What did I do that can’t also be said about half the threads in GD?
It isn’t so much the fact it got locked- it’s that it was locked on a whim, with no written rule being broken, while dozens of other nonsensical and worthless threads remained.
The mods here have a long history of arbitrarily locking or moving my threads with no legitimate reason being given. I started a thread a few months ago on the details of a new upper half I had received from a company that was fairly new… posted it up with detailed observations in the AR Technical Discussion section. It was moved over to AR General Discussion. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t quite understand the logic there.
The “reputation” you’re upholding is one of personal grudges and bias dictating the actions of the mods, apparently at complete random, with little adherence to written rules.
Lock my thread, okay… but get to cracking on those other threads, too. In fact… if all threads must be “technical” to pass muster, remove GD, and remove AR GD. We have no use for them apparently.
about it, but oh well, Im still here. I try to keep my mouth shut and just search and read mostly. God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth, perhaps he intended for us to listen twice as much as we talk.