Posted by bluedog on November 10, 2002, at 23:59:21
In reply to Re: GRC Newsgroups, posted by oracle on November 10, 2002, at 1:51:12
Dr Bob
Heres an example of another feature that has just recently been introduced at GRC Newsgroups
https://grc.com/x/news.exe?cmd=article&group=grc.news&item=350&utag=I have seen a few examples of threads at pscychobabble where this feature would have been very handy for you
" Folks,Yesterday I took a few hours to implement a new discussion
management capability that I have had in mind for some time:Lockable Newsgroup Threads.
As I recently wrote in a reply to Sam Schinke in news.feedback ...
> It is inherently the case that people and egos are involved
> here. But egos are inherently "individual", whereas the needs
> of the entire community are what I, as manager, need to work
> to address and preserve. So when a discussion turns into "the
> thread that wouldn't die", loses its factual value, and becomes
> just about egos -- in other words, when it gets to the point
> where it might as well be taken to eMail since it's no longer in
> the community's interest to host the dialog -- it makes sense for
> me to administratively lock the thread.
>
> Essentially the electronic equivalent of the chairperson of a
> meeting saying "Okay everyone, enough already. Let's move on ..."The one thread I have locked so far was started one week ago on
Sunday, 11/03, by "bloated elvis" in the news.feedback group.Its original subject was: "private address space". However if you
reload that thread's root posting, you'll discover that the root
article's subject now reads:Subject: **LOCKED** private address space
I am able to lock any thread against further posting by editing the
original article's subject line so that it begins with the string
"**LOCKED**". When accepting any new article, the news server now
quickly checks the thread's root article to be sure that the thread
has not been locked. If the thread is locked, the user will receive
a posting error informing them that the thread is locked against
additional posting.(If you refresh your connection to the server, so that it's new since
last evening, you can see this for yourself by attempting to post to
that thread.)I do not anticipate using this facility often, since we generally
succeed in regulating ourselves within reason. But, as happened in
that "private address space" thread, individuals and egos sometimes
get quite caught up in points that no longer need making. When they
refuse to take the hint, I believe that locking threads which have
become pointless can be a gentle and useful tool which serves the
community's interests. :)Onward ...
--
_________________________________________________________________
Steve Gibson, at work on: < nailing down a million loose ends >"
poster:bluedog
thread:8084
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020918/msgs/8146.html