new policy to lock threads once answered

[AnInkedSoul]

interesting policy...could be just the answer to keeping things constructive....

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=105499

[dilberts_left_nut]

Was it really going anywhere constructive after that?
It's all been said already anyway.
IMHO it was simply a troll thread from the get go.

[buntunub]

Agree. The thread title should have been cause enough to lock it.

The problem I think is that there are certain forums where trolling is allowed and even, to a degree, encouraged. These are the Off Topic and General forums. I feel that these forums should be very liberally moderated. However, any of our help forums I think should be very closely moderated because their purpose is solely to help people who have legitimate questions or issues with Debian. I think any thread that even has the appearance of trolling or getting derailed should be locked with a link to the answer provided. So, if your going to lock it, provide the reason why, and provide a helpful link to the answer so that the thread OP can at least get some help.

I think another idea may be to use PM's with the OP after a thread gets locked to avoid further derailment.

[vbrummond]

I think it would be a waste of time to lock threads often. I would only use it to prevent the recursive discussions that happen because of trolls.

[buntunub]

I think it would be a waste of time to lock threads often. I would only use it to prevent the recursive discussions that happen because of trolls.

In threads where the discussion is positive and constructive, these should obviously be left open so long as it stays that way until the solution is arrived at. The problem is that sometimes, probably most the time, there is more than one way to resolve some of these issues/questions, and sometimes a solution is provided that does not resolve the users issue. This could be because 1) the user is not good at English, and 2) the user is just lost and confused and does not know what to ask. He/she just knows that things are not working, but they have no idea why or even where to begin to look for the answer. I have been in situation #2 before when I first started to use Linux so I know how that feels. I think most of us have been there at some point.

Example:
User installs debian and all appears to install properly. The installer finishes and reboots. System locks up half way through the first boot. User is new to Linux. This user will not have the first clue of what to ask. They just know their system is locked and unusable. They will be extremely frustrated, confused, and probably irate, and for good reason. They will have no idea of what questions to ask because they have no clue of what could be wrong. All they can do is describe the issue, which is that they know nothing...