I can’t quote on my phone (erm, annother suggestion to fix!). Thanks for your detailed reply. It’s really the scenarios in your 1st paragraph about why threads are closed that I’m talking about.
Specifically – if the OP hasn’t been active or logged on. But, so what? If the conversation continues, why do we need the OP to continue to participate? Isn’t it enough that the conversation continues even if the OP doesn’t? Similarly, if a thread was started some time ago, becomes inactive, and then is reactivated – where’s the harm? (Sure, a 20 year old thread is probably out of date, but even then the topic could be so general that it doesn’t matter. I keep going back to: where’s the harm? Your audience is fairly discerning-- give us credit that we’ll figure out if a thread is old, or too outdated. So I see little downside to keeping threads open, and a bigger downside – stifling conversation-- to closing them.
Examples of what I’m talking about: Partying at Boarding Schools (thread only a year old, information absolutely not out of date), and the Frat Disaster thread. That thread’s a good example for me, because I have 3 sons. Thankfully none have been involved in an incident like that described in the thread, so I’m not starting a new thread on the topic. But why not let the conversation continue? Lots of us can learn from it.
Anyway, thank you for what you do, I know moderation is a tough job, and we only see the tip of the iceberg. I am just thinking it wouldn’t be a bad thing for whoever sets the policies to stop and think about CC’s end goal, and whether modifying some of these policies might be in CC’s interest.