Please dont lock this thread with a very short abrupt 'take it to the help desk' message, Its a discussion i wish to share with my fellow forumers.

I have noticed a lot of threads get locked when a moderator decides a topic has been spent, also when a few start humerous exchange and sometimes when it turns to chat, what i'd like to know is .............. why do mods lock threads they presume have come to a natural end, surely its us as contributers to the threads that should decide that .......... and if it had been exhausted, it would be at the bottom of the page, not the top as so many are.

the chat/humerous exchange threads ........... why lock it? couldnt you just leave it to run and let members have a laugh then delete it afterwards?

what do you lot think, is the forum just being kept tidy or is it overmoderated?

I dont want this to turn into a mod bashing post please, its a job i certainly wouldnt do for all the tea in china.

A few humourous exchanges on a thread are fine...when there are pages and pages of just two or three people chatting or having an in-joke then the thread becomes unreadable

its over moderating. my thread lets have some jokes had over 100 replys with 22 differant contributers. any chance the mods could under moderate and put it back where i (i forumer) wanted it to be. i rarely look at any other part of the forum as i find it boring (apart from the history section) so just wanted a bit of light hearted end of season banter with my piggie mates and fellow blades.

if its not broke yer dont mend it.

There's a chat room for chatting and a forum for messages. If the chat becomes esoteric why have it on thread only to be deleted, increasing the workloads for the mods?

There's a chat room for chatting and a forum for messages. If the chat becomes esoteric why have it on thread only to be deleted, increasing the workloads for the mods?

But alot of the time they are chatting about the thread, and sometimes don`t even give people chance to "Move it to the chatroom!" they jst lock it and say its run its course.

I haven't seen that. Generally the mods seem to be polite, though insistant in my experience and Geoff is keen to keep it all working well.
Does everyone use the chat room as well?

I know this sounds a bit.. creepy and I dont mean it to, but if it wasnt for the mods keeping me (at least) in check, Id run riot and possibly make the forum unusable for everyone else.
Ive done that on other fora.

I trust their judgement as far as my crap is concerned, I only get a bit miffed when a long post of mine is deleted- which it rarely is- and then I only get miffed because of all the typing I did thats gone into the ether.

Im also a bugger for chatting- I get carried away and if it wasnt for the mods telling me off occasionally, again, Id wreck the forum along with everyone else who cant resist a natter.

I dont have that much contact with the mods but I trust their judgement, they seem to know what theyre doing.
The forums doing alright, which is more than can be said for lot of others so they must be doing SOMETHING right.

As for the chat room, again, Id take over and spoil it for others.

I haven't seen that. Generally the mods seem to be polite, though insistant in my experience and Geoff is keen to keep it all working well.
Does everyone use the chat room as well?

I use the chatroom. Only at night though. It doesn't get used in the daytime.

I haven't seen that. Generally the mods seem to be polite, though insistant in my experience and Geoff is keen to keep it all working well.
Does everyone use the chat room as well?

I don`t/can`t, I`m a bit thick and can never work out who`s talking to who.
It all moves very fast in there
I do agree the mods are usually polite, (I couldn`t do the job without losing the plot with someone)but sometimes they can jump on people straight away(maybe if they`ve had a bad day or summat, I dunno?)

I think they do an ok job. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Deleting whole threads is a little rich though, as was the case today, when the topic encroached upon the hallowed and revered turf of forumers past...to the resulting chorus of complaint from a gaggle of handwringers.

In that instance, the modding was poor.

But we are human, after all. Gotta expect a bit of that here and there.

So, if it's the speed which puts you off, what would help?
I can think of a chat room I used in the past which had subsections so you had options to go in rooms where people had similar interests and smaller groups.
I'm not saying that Geoff might put this in place but the forum has grown so maybe one day it would be an option.
Would it make a difference?

So, if it's the speed which puts you off, what would help?
I can think of a chat room I used in the past which had subsections so you had options to go in rooms where people had similar interests and smaller groups.
I'm not saying that Geoff might put this in place but the forum has grown so maybe one day it would be an option.
Would it make a difference?

I could do.
I don`t know I`ve never tried any other chatrooms.

The chatroom is too much for my brain to cope with. I can't work out who is talking to who and by the time I have thought of a response, the point I was going to respond to has left the screen !

If a thread becomes chatty and it wasn't a particularly serious one in the first place then I have noticed that sometimes the thread gets moved in to the I'm bored section, I personally think that that would be preferable to locking it. If a thread is someone soul searching or dealing with a particular issue then chatting on is obviously inappropriate, but there are a lot of threads that are neither one thing nor another. I think mods should consider moving it to I'm bored if it is too chatty and using as light a touch as possible elsewhere maybe preventing chatting only where it is interfering with people wanting to discuss the topic on the thread.

Ps I think the Mods make the right decision 99% of the time and the other 1% there are probably deleted posts or stuff that makes it impossible to judge. The job they do is a service for us all and I for one am grateful.

Can I stick a link to an averge chatroom in here? Itll show those who have never been in one to see what its like.
All theyll need to click the word OK and the applet will do the rest.

Should I post a link?

I think sometimes the mods can be to PC and also favour some to others and not clearly state whos meant to be supposingly chatting. Im on other forums and they are way less police type than on here, this is only IMO.

I think sometimes the mods can be to PC and also favour some to others and not clearly state whos meant to be supposingly chatting. Im on other forums and they are way less police type than on here, this is only IMO.

I agree Jibbsylad.

Can I stick a link to an averge chatroom in here? Itll show those who have never been in one to see what its like.
All theyll need to click the word OK and the applet will do the rest.

Should I post a link?

Do it Jabbs, if not, then PM me the link mate.

Our reluctance to allow 'chatter' on threads isn't just a matter of dragging things off-topic, it also has a negative effect of increasing the load on the forum. This means that those users who are genuinely using the forum for its purpose (discussions, not chat) encounter delays and timeouts.

Ultimately a forum is where you post something and come back later to view and make replies. They are not intended/coded for quick fire replies or chatter, that's why we have MSN etc!

Finally, the reason we don't like people to start threads asking about site policies (such as chatter in threads) is that we often encounter other users accidentally giving misinformation which generally causes confusion and sometimes incorrectly placed ill feeling towards to the mod team!

I hope this has answered your question to why we don't like chatter in threads and I encourage you to contact us if you have any other queries - it's the quickest (and most accurate!) way to get the answer you need.

Moving this to feedback forum and closing as original query answered.