h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ok, why exactly do some Scouts put "THREAD CLOSED" or some such when they post that an entry has been picked and accepted? It's silly: it might dissuade people from giving legitimate feedback (or even illegitimate feedback), and it makes the whole thing seem artificial and vaguelly nasty... and I can't see that it serves any positive purpose.

Can we get rid of this please?

I promise to stop immediately... oh wait, I never did this. But you can still consider me a convert, if you like.

I agree; it is unconstructive. We call it "closing" the thread, but that's really not what we mean it to be. Perhaps we should come up with another name for it, to prevent new recruits from falling into this nasty habit.

I did that myself for a while, but if I think about it ... ... it's nonsense. A note like "Last Additions Please!" would be more helpful, just to let everybody know that the Entry won't be found in the PR within a short time.

Jeremy

Absolutely right, Lu' - and as an (occasionally) guilty party I promise to change my ways.

A new title can help alert Scouts that the thread shouldn't be picked - but "Recommended" or "Congratulations" can do that just as well without precluding further discussion. And in any case, threads don't often hang around PR long after this.

I should also point out that in the Scouts' guidelines at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A540262 we never once talked about posting anything about closing the thread - that's an internal term. The message we recommend is much more generalised:

"Thanks for your recommendation. You'll be glad to know that we think this entry is great, and it has now gone into the Editorial Process for future inclusion in the Edited Guide. When it does get into the Edited Guide, we will email to let you know, but please bear in mind it can take a while for entries to go through the sub-editing system."

Or similar. I'll go tell the Scouts mailing list...

Mark