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

A new feature will shortly come into use on h2g2 - the option of closing a conversation. We may use this for legal reasons such as a defamation or election, because the conversation has become unruly or possibly to divert conversations to relevant discussions elsewhere. The h2g2 Editors will also have the facility to reopen closed conversations if there is a clear benefit to do so.

This feature is live as of now, but it's unlikely to be put to use just yet as we still need to update our FAQs and document how the feature works. We will not be looking for conversations to close at this time.

Yay for new tools!

parp!

Hmmm this is one I *really* dont like the osund of.

Not having a go, but given the "hands off" approach TPTB have, plus their reluctance to discuss "moderation decisions onsite" I can see this being very contentious, especially if there is any suggestion that it is not applied in an even handed manner.

Do we actally get to close our own converstaions at all? Such as journal entries, or messages posted to our PS?

I have in effect closed lots of conversations with particularly long, boring posts.

The text speak and profanity are annoying sometimes, but I find the mean-spirited remarks much worse. Do you have a filter for those?

I'm not sure I understand how this will work. Will you hide an entire conversation when it is closed? If I think a conversation is silly and a waste of time or hateful or repetitious, can I request that it be closed? How offensive would one have to become? And why exactly is it necessary? I can unsubscribe from any conversation in which I lose interest. Unless you wipe them out and thus free up bandwidth, I don't see what this is accomplishing.

I may be wrong, but the main place I can see this happening would be in the case of thread wars that are starting to take up too much moderator and italic time. Closing a thread won't keep people from just taking their argument elsewhere, but on other boards I use it often does calm things down quite a bit. On those boards, when a thread is closed it just means no one can post or reply to it any longer -- it's still there.

1 )Will we be told that a conversation is about to be closed?

2) Will we be able to protest or will it be arbitrary?

3) Some conversations mean a great deal to those participating, what about those?

4) I have seen many conversations that are either silly from start to finish, or only understood by those taking part, and some that have started well and deteriorated in to silliness, to put it politely. Most people would have unsubbed as a result.

5) I agree that offensive material should be closed, and I would have expected that anyway, but do WE get any say at all in this?

6) I would appreciate a response when you have time.

Websailor

What exactly, apart from legal reasons, is the point of closing a conversation down, when those who don't like it can unsub from it any time? I can see this causing grief and rancour, and possibly people leaving the site altogether. Or is this the reason, to reduce the numbers in view of server problems?

Unless the conversation's been dormant for a year or two - but that doesn't seem to be what you're saying. Whence this new aggressive stance?

What point are you trying to make about 'silliness' and what kind of silliness are refering to?

One word, two letters, repeated thrice. Nuff said. It's been threatened with closure many times, and now there's the tools to do the deed. These certainly are interesting times.

Traveller in Time digging
"Yesterday I could not find a thread not closed, now they all seem to be 'open' for discussion.

< F2107879?thread=2493881&latest=1 > on Points of View, they have the feature to close threads already some time.

As you can see there are no buttons to [Reply to this message] most times there is an announcement 'DNA messenger' style and the thread is flagged on top with a message 'This thread has been closed' "

I am sorry I don't have the time to go looking for silly threads as I have always unsubbed from any I find.

I know silliness is subjective the same as some offensive words can be, but a good trawl round should find a few that can hardly justify the space.

I suppose I leave myself wide open to criticism now, don't I



WebsailorMdragon>

I do hope that when this is applied, it is not going to be applied on the basis of how long a thread has remained dorment (I.E., no one posted to it). I've often read an article or guide entry on here, and then posted to a thread on the topic discusing the topic, where the last post in that thread was two three or more years previous and... should anyone even for one moment suggest a certain thread is destined for closure on the basis of its... 'precieved sillynessness'.... well... I'm sure you know which thread I mean

I probably asked for that - but I wouldn't want to make enemies by naming names or threads, even mine

Websailor

Considering the advancement of technology, in particular "memory" & "storage" & that this is supposed to be an open free site - what gives anyone/organisation the right to close a conversation - except for those that began it in the first place?

What would have been the wishes of Douglas Adams?

well will it be like the 360 site one day you could read a thread the next day you have to be invited, will ww2 and cult vanish one day as well, suppose more of these outages will be caused by servers looking for threads that come to a dead end, well thats unless you can shake hands under behind your back while standing one legged in a bowl of custard.

Hmmm, really tightening the belt on censorship here which is a shame, as has already been mentioned. Not that I don't agree with your SMS speak banning because this isn't a limited character place and profanity words just allow for it to descend into insult hurling, but this is a long step away from those two.

Also four posts from the Eds on one day? Can't be good for thread-lag

This sounds to me like a back-door rationalisation for freezing long threads (like "No no no!!") that are contributing to the "slowness" of the site. It's a kludge, and I'm not impressed.

Oh, and if you're adding a profanity filter that f*****g stars all the b****y swear words, will converstaions containing them fall under the "Unintelligible conversations" measures? Just wondering...