Locked topics

[Guest Zak]

I am just wondering that after one host (Dedrei) locked a topic, another host (Marius) came in and added a reply to that discussion?

Normal members is unfortunately not able to add any comments to the locked topic.

This might be a technical glitch, but unfortunately, I see it as a little bit bigger problem.

Cheers, Zak.

[Dedrei]

Zak, there is no technical glitch. Hosts are able to move, close (lock), delete, merge, unlock or pin topics.

Hosts have more functions available to them than a normal member has.

[Guest Zak]

Thanks Dedrei for the explanation.

So this means that after a topic has been locked a host can still speak his/her opinion but a normal member can't. As was the case with the "LSD - Negative Response" topic.

Does anybody else see a problem with this or is this just me?

Cheers.

[Dedrei]

Marius didn't see that the topic was locked.

Sorry, did not see Dedrei's timeout !

He did apologise for it. Some of us are still learning how this site works and all the features that are available to us. Please just bear with us, not all of us are IT savvy as you are. It was just a slight oversight.

Just to make it clear.

If a topic is locked by a host, no other host should post anything after the fact.

[Riekie]

TIME OUT!!

I think everyone has proved their point. This discussion/debate is gonna go on for ever and I'd rather stop this now before it gets ugly and somebody gets hurt.

Zak, I do not see that this topic is locked in any way but merely that Dedrei requested that we call it a day. If a topic is locked, you would technically not be able to make a post on it. Marius was simply apologizing in respect to Dedrei's request once he realised that she asked us to stop the conversation as it was going nowhere.

Yes, we are still learning the full functioning of everything on this site. If there was anything relevant you would still like to add to that topic, please go ahead.

We will however make sure that we are more clear in future when a decision is made to lock a topic (which was not the case here) and thank you for bringing the misinterpretation to our attention.

[Janine]

Zak, I do not see that this topic is locked in any way but merely that Dedrei requested that we call it a day. If a topic is locked, you would technically not be able to make a post on it.

Riekie, the topic was in fact locked by Dedrei for normal members, i.e. none of us (normal members) could reply, even if we wanted to. Even if I or Zak or anybody else (besides the hosts) wanted to add anything to that topic, we couldn't. As explained by Dedrei, HOSTS can still reply on locked topics (but should refrain from doings so - the whole double standards thing, you know!) and that is why you can still probably reply and therefor think that everyone else can as well!

And Marius did reply after the topic was technically locked by Dedrei and that is what Zak (and a few of us other normal members) was unhappy about and that is the reason why Marius apologised.

In my opinion the matter was resolved before your post and your post does seem like a little bit nasty towards Zak. Poor guy, what have you got against him?

Edited March 16, 2006 by Janine

[Hendie]

Hehe, and now, just to add to the confusion, I have gone and unlocked it again!

... but you will notice it got moved to The Cooler as well!

This forum has a LOT of features to help us (the hosts) control discussions, and I simply have not had the time to explain all of them to the new host team yet. Like Dedrei has said, the hosts are still pretty new to all of this, so please bear with us. Experience has taught me that we will always have Zaks and Janines to challenge the host team - and that is good: as representatives of the member community we are accountable to you folks, and you NEED to question us when you see something that doesn't seem right.

So about locking threads, posting or not posting :

• All hosts can lock a thread, but that should be reserved as an absolute last resort.
  
• We have The Cooler where we can "demote" a discussion to when it is noticed that things are getting out of hand. This should be an indication to the membership that the host team is of the opinion that a thread is heading South (or is it North in Australia?), and that they need to tread carefully with responses, and bear in mind the rule "play the ball, not the man" even more strictly than before.
  
• Hosts have full control over threads, in other words they can even post to a closed one. Janine's observation is quite correct: hosts should honour the open/closed state of a thread, and not misuse that privilege. To his credit, Marius did not notice that the thread was closed, and apologized for posting in a closed thread.
  
• Only when a thread simply will not behave in The Cooler, will it be closed, or deleted. Threads in The Cooler also have a similar two week lifetime as in Chit Chat, so after the storm dies down, and no more responses are posted, a thread in The Cooler will eventually be removed anyway (or in rare occasions it may be moved back to it's home forum for archiving).
  

I hope that clarifies things a little better for everyone.

Hendie

[Riekie]

Hendie, thanks for clearing that one up for all of us - I was also confused there for a while!

[NZHigh]

And of course in addition to all the technical stuff we should all realise that this particular topic will resurface time and again over the coming years as it is so relevant to so many people. Despite the harsh words at times prospective migrants to either Aus or NZ/Canada can gain a lot by reading about not only others' experiences but also the (emotional) feelings about this aspect of migrating.