Trigger-happy? Please check substance before locking!

I don't know who did it, because there has been no post explaining the rash of locks today. But you locked a thread about the new search that was still very on-topic and James Linden had been reading it. (The 'Would you pay more than 50L for a classified' thread.)

Most threads are plainly obvious that they are ready for locking - the question has been answered and people have started making jokes and going off on wild tangents. Or the thread was not appropriate to begin with, like the meanness thread.

But just because a thread is long does not mean that it is not valuable. Especially when we have the ear of a Linden in it and are having a meaningful discourse.

Please explain why that thread was locked. I would like to see it re-opened, as it was still very pertinent and James was listening.

I fully agree with Cristalle. The lock on that thread was completely inappropriate. We were still discussing the entire search setup, capabilities, and functionality. James Linden was actively reading that thread and asking for suggestions and input. Not cool to lock it!

On the same topic, it sure would be nice to know a) WHY a topic is locked (Strife always let us know) and b) WHO is doing the moderating. This anonymous, directionless locking doesn't help.

It's very disheartening to finally have a Linden look in on us and join our discussions, in fact, requesting that we continue the discussion - and then to have it locked on us without explanation.

Fully fosters the belief that LL truly does not care about the residents who support them.

I just wanted to say something on the use of "me" in language history and on SL and stuff, just to find that all I had typed (which I had done a while ago, I just left the tab open to continue) was pointless because the thread was suddenly locked. Why? No comment, nothing. And its entirely relevant because it was a question about SL. Is language use in SL now considered off topic? Because then I can probably forget about posting a lot of my comments...

Anyway, it's NOT nice to lock without saying why.

Not to mention that it doesn't set an example of what not to do either. How are we to learn from mistakes, if we don't know WHY it's a mistake? It's not always obvious. Also, knowing who is the one locking it can allow us to open a dialog with the person, if we felt it was wrongfully locked.

Even I have been keeping up with that long thread about the search features. I found it enlightening, especially since the a Linden took interest in it too.

I do hope that our new moderator is taking this feedback as constructive criticism. In the same vein may I suggest some lower latency on moderator actions:

The thread where James Linden asked for feedback on the the search ... /142/fc/226678/1.html ... still seems to be locked. At the same time, the "I used to like" thread has finally degenerated into a flamewar, without being locked.

I fail to see in which way depriving the developer from feedback he asked for while letting flamewars rage improves the quality of SL or of the forum.

{EDIT} Thread has just been unlocked. Thanks, Strife!

I've unlocked that thread.

Thank you, Strife.