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I was thinking about people asking for their threads to be closed/deleted. This got me wondering, "Who owns a thread?" I don't mean "who has the rights to close/edit/etc threads" as I know dakkadakka has the right to do whatever they want on their forum, I don't question that. What I was wondering is, who has the right to chose what is done to most threads (those that are not against dakka rules)?

Does the thread creator get to chose when a thread closes if he requests it? Since the OP created the idea and typed it up, does he get to be the one who decides when a thread is closed if it isn't against the rules?

Do the moderators get to decide if a thread is dead and close it if they see fit?

Does the community own the thread? If a community has put a lot of effort into a thread and the OP requests it to be closed, does the community have a right to say, "no, this thread has evolved beyond you and is an important part of the community?"

A big THANK YOU in advance for your thoughts!


Edited due to incorrect punctuation.

In my anecdotal experience as a dakkaroo, the context is important here; because at times all 3 are true.

If an OP creates a thread about something they are selling and then requests a mod lock it, they will do so. I imagine that is true of a showcase thread or similar although I have not seen that. Additionally, when an OP creates a thread and asks for specific items to be considered offtopic, I have generally seen moderators respect that, though of course the specifics matter.

If a thread is rulebreaking or has descended into gakposts with no value, obviously the mods will close it without polling either the community or the OP.

The community "owns a thread" in that I have seen situations where an OP has created a thread and later requested it be locked and it been denied as valuable discussion was taking place. That loops around a little bit to the first thing though.

There is not a single answer to that question in practice, though ultimately of course the mods can lock any thread at any time for any reason, in the technical sense of "ownership".

Pretty much what he said. It really depends on the thread, and the discretion of the mod team.

 Ouze wrote:

Thank you for the great answer!