As of late, I’ve been noticing that some threads have been mysteriously closed. Example: My thread about improving my article. These are perfectly community-based threads, among some others, and I don’t feel that they should be closed with no good reason or without prior explanation. Whoever is doing this, please don’t get upset, but I just want to know why this is happening. Thanks!
Hailey
2
I have seen this happening too. One of my bug reports was closed when I needed to post more links to screenshots to explain the bug, but I couldn’t.
Marina
3
If you guys could post links to the particular threads, that would be helpful.
Hailey
5
The third one was the one I was talking about. Another one was http://forums.wikihow.com/discussion/10330
- this thread could use some other opinions of editors.
Hailey
6
@WritingEnthusiast14
Your thread was probably closed due to it being 2 weeks old and being bumped.
Why have a bunch of other older-than-2-week threads not been closed?
@WritingEnthusiast14
They probably weren’t bumped. It’s not necessary to close every thread that is 2 weeks old or older.
@WritingEnthusiast14
they were closed because they were bumped after having been dead for 2 weeks.
system
12
Well, there isn’t a specific policy suggesting a thread be closed simply because it has been bumped, but if a thread seems to be attracting posts that look like spam, or are senseless posts, it could happen. If a topic is still relevant and the topic hasn’t been addressed to everyone’s satisfaction, it really doesn’t beg to be closed.
Lojjik
13
Sometimes spambots hits old threads and we have to delete the spambot post and then (close) the thread so it doesn’t get bumped again. Bug reports get closed when the issue has been resolved (or is indicated as such, if you have more to add feel free to ask an admin to reopen)
http://www.wikihow.com/Close-Discussions-on-the-wikiHow-Forums
says: Not all discussions need to be closed. Just letting it sink and not be touched, might be a better option for some discussions. On my thread about “Spank Your Child With a Belt”, this could have been a better option. My thread requesting help for my article was an active discussion that was cut short.
Like deletions, blocks, and page protections, admins use their own discretion to moderate the forums. This means the admin may see an issue in the thread that warrants closure even if the reason isn’t obvious to others. Vanilla Forums don’t have public logs like on the main site so you can’t contact the admin if he/she didn’t post a comment before closing. Your best bet is to simply repost the thread.
