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Why was my "Amy Hoggart" thread locked?

CraterGunsCraterGuns
in MI6 Headlines & Feedback Posts: 618
I'm not miffed, just curious... just as I was genuinely curious when I created the thread in the first place.

It was opened in the "General Movies & TV" forum ... which I assumed would be the proper place for a non-Bond related thread about a performer on American TV who happens to be British.

The thread was not in any way salacious, rude, redundant, or political.

Is Ms. Hoggart utterly despised in the UK or something?

Comments

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,278
    You posted a thread in the form of a question (is she popular in the UK?), so once it was answered it served no other purpose.
  • shamanimalshamanimal
    Posts: 623
    I rarely start new threads on here because I've had threads locked before. I don't know why they do it, it's the only forum I visit that has this problem.
  • CraterGunsCraterGuns
    edited March 2020 Posts: 618
    MakeshiftPython wrote: »
    You posted a thread in the form of a question (is she popular in the UK?), so once it was answered it served no other purpose.

    Are you serious -- or joshing?

    An appealing, funny comedienne starts popping up on American TV -- I'm a Yank, of course -- whom I've never heard of before... I was merely curious if she had a career (is "known") to UK audiences.

    That's all it was meant for. (I've never seen her in any of the imported British TV shows I've watched.)
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    Posts: 3,497
    CraterGuns wrote: »
    MakeshiftPython wrote: »
    You posted a thread in the form of a question (is she popular in the UK?), so once it was answered it served no other purpose.

    Are you serious -- or joshing?

    An appealing, funny comedienne starts popping up on American TV -- I'm a Yank, of course -- whom I've never heard of before... I was merely curious if she had a career (is "known") to UK audiences.

    That's all it was meant for.

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  • CraterGunsCraterGuns
    Posts: 618
    So even a thread such as "Was Timothy Dalton well-known in the U.S. before Bond?" -- a legitimate question that could be asked by any person new to Bond fandom, for example -- would be similarly locked?
  • CraterGunsCraterGuns
    Posts: 618
    Well, Ms. Hoggart is still very funny -- and cute! ;)
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 14,038
    She looks vaguely familiar, maybe she's been on Mock The Week. Otherwise no, I don't think she is well known in the UK.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,368
    MakeshiftPython wrote: »
    You posted a thread in the form of a question (is she popular in the UK?), so once it was answered it served no other purpose.

    Correct. That is part of the reason why we prefer to funnel questions into "questions threads", in order to avoid that 50 questions demand 50 separate threads.
    shamanimal wrote: »
    I rarely start new threads on here because I've had threads locked before. I don't know why they do it, it's the only forum I visit that has this problem.

    @shamanimal
    I resent the fact that you call this a problem. Many other forums have so many threads that it effectively becomes impossible to find the proper one. Too many duplicate threads are created as a result and the same debates are more or less going on simultaneously in various threads. In the end, people don't know where to take a discussion. Also, the more micro-specific a topic, the sooner the thread dies a tragic death. Many forums are littered with half-a-page threads. We don't want that. Furthermore, we're a Bond forum and non-Bond topics will always be quickly evaluated as appealing to many, or only to a few. I could open up threads that literally no-one here is interested in, with topics such as some Flemish comedians no-one here knows about, or some Japanimation few people have ever seen, or a book I've read that presumably no-one else here has even heard of. What's the point of having such threads on a Bond forum? Only non-Bond topics that may prove fertile, such as "Batman", "Star Wars", "Movies you've seen", "Your Bluray collection", ... will pass our tests.

    Again, this is not a problem. This is our way of keeping the forum tidy. Judging by what members have told us so far, it seems that our efforts are appreciated.
    CraterGuns wrote: »
    MakeshiftPython wrote: »
    You posted a thread in the form of a question (is she popular in the UK?), so once it was answered it served no other purpose.

    Are you serious -- or joshing?

    An appealing, funny comedienne starts popping up on American TV -- I'm a Yank, of course -- whom I've never heard of before... I was merely curious if she had a career (is "known") to UK audiences.

    That's all it was meant for. (I've never seen her in any of the imported British TV shows I've watched.)

    I understand the impulse. And any new point of interest being raised is much appreciated. Still, there are threads that can be used for such things, like this one:
    https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/151/last-tv-show-you-watched/p100
    CraterGuns wrote: »
    So even a thread such as "Was Timothy Dalton well-known in the U.S. before Bond?" -- a legitimate question that could be asked by any person new to Bond fandom, for example -- would be similarly locked?

    Yes, and we'd be directing that person to the James Bond Questions thread.

    As a rule-of-thumb, it's wise to assume that a thread for each discussion already exists. If you have trouble finding it, or if you still want to start a fresh one, please consult with a mod via PM.
  • CraterGunsCraterGuns
    Posts: 618
    I appreciate the clarification.
  • shamanimalshamanimal
    Posts: 623
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    As a rule-of-thumb, it's wise to assume that a thread for each discussion already exists. If you have trouble finding it, or if you still want to start a fresh one, please consult with a mod via PM.

    So the advice is, ask a mod before starting a new thread?

    I started one last week about the SPECTRE symbol, and I managed to get away with that one. Phew!
    I'll ask first, next time.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,368
    shamanimal wrote: »
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    As a rule-of-thumb, it's wise to assume that a thread for each discussion already exists. If you have trouble finding it, or if you still want to start a fresh one, please consult with a mod via PM.

    So the advice is, ask a mod before starting a new thread?

    I started one last week about the SPECTRE symbol, and I managed to get away with that one. Phew!
    I'll ask first, next time.

    Please don't harbour any ill feelings over this, @shamanimal. Sure, you can still start a new thread if you want to. All I was trying to point out is that members who feel uncertain about whether there already is a thread for a certain discussion or not, are free to PM us and we'll help said member finding an existing thread, or give the green light for a new, original one. This is a way for us to help people, not to patronize them. Like you said, your thread posed no problem, did it? We're not gestapoing the place, you know. ;)
  • JamesCraigJamesCraig Ancient Rome
    edited March 2020 Posts: 3,497
    Dimi is a nice chap, but you gotta ask him and only him to open a new thread. ;)
  • shamanimalshamanimal
    Posts: 623
    I visit a lot of forums, and have one of my own, and they all operate differently, I understand that. I suppose we all have our preferred method of 'policing' them, (I choose no censorship or moderation on mine, I only only dump spammers and obvious trolls).
    In my opinion, locking someone's polite thread does send out a message of you shouldn't have done that!. It's a little dictatorial, and this can risk annoying people, and putting people off posting new threads.
    But as I've seen explained above, this particular forum doesn't really want new threads, unless they're deemed appropriate by the moderator. So our best option on this board is - either ask permission first, (as advised) - or post away, and keep your fingers crossed that the moderators think it's sufficiently singular enough to warrant its own thread.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,043
    @shamanimal, but what's the issue you're having? You've created 15 threads and only 2 were locked, as both of them were niche questions that were either answered or could've been addressed in several existing threads, as both moderators who locked them noted. I'm not sure where the offense is in such an approach, as we always give reasoning for locking a thread (provided it's not spam or a duplicate post, in which they're removed outright).
  • shamanimalshamanimal
    Posts: 623
    No issue, I'm just voicing my opinion that locking threads might have an unwelcoming vibe for some people, and might even be detrimental to the forum. At the risk of keeping things 'tidy', you can risk pissing people off.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,043
    I just don't think one can correlate a dictatorial attitude with locking up a duplicate thread when one already exists. That's quite an overreaction. Personally, I prefer having everything tidily in one place, for organizational purposes. There's no point in turning into Reddit where the same posts are made 10 or 20 times in a day, every day. That's just me, though.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,368
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    I just don't think one can correlate a dictatorial attitude with locking up a duplicate thread when one already exists. That's quite an overreaction. Personally, I prefer having everything tidily in one place, for organizational purposes. There's no point in turning into Reddit where the same posts are made 10 or 20 times in a day, every day. That's just me, though.

    Count me in as well, @Creasy47. In fact, I'm proud of the cleanness of our sections. It's relatively easy to find the proper thread, and there's almost always just one.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,043
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    Creasy47 wrote: »
    I just don't think one can correlate a dictatorial attitude with locking up a duplicate thread when one already exists. That's quite an overreaction. Personally, I prefer having everything tidily in one place, for organizational purposes. There's no point in turning into Reddit where the same posts are made 10 or 20 times in a day, every day. That's just me, though.

    Count me in as well, @Creasy47. In fact, I'm proud of the cleanness of our sections. It's relatively easy to find the proper thread, and there's almost always just one.

    Thank you.

    And if they aren't, they're merely a Google search away. And if they aren't after that, it's usually fair to say that a thread doesn't exist and one should feel free to open one up. We're not looking to shut down discussions for the hell of it, there are literally thousands of threads on this site, but when one exists and the conversations are already centralized there, there's no reason to create a new thread (much like how we close up threads that are asking a question about a particular scene or quote in a film, when there's already one main place to do just that).
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