Thread Locking. A new trend?

[jkisha]

Lately I've noticed a LOT of threads being locked. When someone gets a ticket in the tickets wanted thread for example. I'm just wondering what the reasoning is behind this. There are many of these type, if not topic, of threads that though the request has been answered, a congratulatory, or other such, comment might have been appropriate, but couldn't be made because the thread was locked.

What has precipitated this trend I wonder?

[Savannah]

A ticket thread is locked when a ticket is sold to stop responses to obsolete threads--which allows a satisfactorily ended thread to drop to the bottom of the page, and the active threads to remain at the top, where they will be more easily seen.

Locked ticket threads are not deleted until some time later, however--in case contact information is needed, or the thread needs to be re-opened (for whatever reason).

[MegsLegs]

I would like to provide a little feedback on the locking of the Stages seeking Artists, and Artists seeking Stages threads, respectively

I'm guessing the intention is to drive traffic to the spark collaboration site that Burning Man created? As the primary booker of entertainment for my camp- I posted on spark upon its debut and have actively been using both it and eplaya to find artists and musicians to play the cafe. I don't feel that locking the eplaya threads have driven traffic to spark- and I still receive many more responses to my eplaya listing then I do through the Spark forum. I think the hassle of creating yet another account on another website can create a hurdle many artists are unwilling to bother jumping- and while they can post individual threads on eplaya, I sure appreciated the hub of the Artists seeking Stages on eplaya, not to mention the excitement driven by an ever growing roster of awesome performers.

Would it be possible to continue having both forums available for collaboration posts? It casts a much broader net and facilitates many more connections when we are able to reach out through multiple avenues. I may just be sad though- because rarely do I post outside of the working forums on eplaya. I mean I'm sure I'll get over it, but with a heavy heart as I'm driven back down again to the realm of the lurker who never posts.

xo
Meg

[Shambala]

In the past, threads have been locked when the subject has been beaten to a worthless, bloody pulp. Sometimes users start getting abusive to each other in these threads.

As Savannah said, lately, the reason for locking is to allow it to drop to the bottom. Once a ticket is declared "sold", it will not have people still trying to get that ticket if it's locked.

If for some reason you feel a locked thread should be opened back up, ask any moderator to take care of it. As long as I've had at least one martini in me, I am pretty accommodating--unless there is a real compelling reason it was locked!

Sham....

[trilobyte]

I did it last year too. We started locking threads because people would continue to post in them (and in the case of tickets offered, bombard the OP with private messages). The tickets wanted/offered boards need to be 'working' forums, so that those either with or seeking tickets can find open/active threads quickly. If people want to start a congratulatory 'got my ticket' thread in Tickets Discussion (like we've had for pre-sale, main sale, and STEP) that's fine by me.

As for the Artists/Stages threads, they're done. They were kind of problematic (mostly spam) before Spark finally launched, and once the collaboration tool became available they became completely redundant. People already can and do use ePlaya to post threads about their camps, stages, or their bad selves - and you're welcome to continue to use ePlaya for that purpose (don't go nuts with multiple threads though, just reply to your original thread with updates). Personally I think that having a separate thread for each project/artist works a little better, as it allows for banter and feedback.

[MegsLegs]

That's fair, thanks for the reply!