Hey there Equus,
Your questions are quite valid. If I may take a moment to attempt to address them in turn.
- Reasons why a forum is closed.
The primary reason a forum is closed is because the relevant Mods are unable to attend to matters at hand. Mods have to attend to their personal lives first, such as going to work. When there is more activity on a forum than can be handled in an a timely manner it's beneficial to temporarily close a forum.
The matters at hand, specifically, is a flood of PM's from the membership over issues of contention. All of these PM's need to be replied. In addition, the confidentiality of _all_ PM's has to be maintained. That means that a PM, no matter how offensive, is not to be repeated to the public without permission.
In many cases, various members will beging accusations against each other in PM. These accusations need to be heard, evaluated, and the warring factions encouraged to first calm their emotions, and then arrive at some form of agreement that will allow them to continue to post in a civil manner.
All of the above takes time. A _lot_ of time. If the relevant mods have a life, that time is limited. Hence the temporary closing of a forum untill all the irate parties can come to their senses.
- Debate on SR.
Difference of opinion are always welcome on SR. The many different forums provide some form of structure for those opinions. The rules are necessary because the internet attracts a wide variety of trolls in assorted disguises. The majority of trolls enjoy testing the limits of the rules, and are quite creative in posting subtle insults and condescending remarks. In addition, people under the influence of various chemicals find it entertaining to post on recovery sites.
Rules of civility are quite different than laws of behavior. In addition, a forum staffed by part-time volunteers will never have the kind of resources of a governmnet funded court system. This results in forum rules that must be fairly loose in order to allow open discussion. However, this also alows trolls to find it relatively easy to disrupt an entire forum with only a few subtle posts.
Some trolls are more persistent than others. Some are more literate than others. Here on SR there is an average of one major conflagration per week. Not counting women suffering from domestic violence, minors reporting incest, sundry personal crisis, and other such "normal" occurences. The majority of those crisis are handled in PM, which reflects back on time available to the mods for handling issues of less importance.
- In summary.
Mods must first attend to people in physical danger, the bulk of which is done in PM which must remain confidential. Many PM's are needed to first develop trust, then encourage individuals to contact local authorities and support groups. You may have noticed some activity in the "sticky" posts relevant to Domestic Violence in a couple of the forums here on SR.
Once those emergencies are handled mods can turn their attention to other issues, such as members who are complaining about each other, insulting each other, and otherwise acting out in an uncivilized manner. Threads are locked when the amount of time needed to keep tempers under control exceeds the time available to part-time, volunteer mods. Forums are locked when the PM traffic becomes overwhelming.
Differences of opinion, conducted in a civil manner, will always be welcomed.
I hope this addresses your concerns.
Mike
