Aren't closed threads supposed to be given an explanation for the closing?

[Travis B]

I could've sworn I saw a supermod say a few months ago that moderators should always provide an explanation when closing a thread. I understand once in a while a mod may forget or a thread that blatantly breaks the rules doesn't need an explanation.

But I'm starting to see more and more innocuous threads recently get closed without any reason given.

Has there been a change in policy where moderators do not have to provide an explanation anymore when closing a thread? I'm half-expecting this thread to be closed too without explanation, although that would be pretty funny in an ironic sort of way.

[Endus]

I can't speak for current practice, but mods often close a thread first, and make a statement later. Particularly if the thread is bad and they're closing it to prevent it getting worse, and working through the thread trying to decide if it's salvageable with a warning to keep it on track, or if it's so off the rails it should just be closed.

But this shouldn't be that much later, usually a few minutes at most.

[Travis B]

I can't speak for current practice, but mods often close a thread first, and make a statement later. Particularly if the thread is bad and they're closing it to prevent it getting worse, and working through the thread trying to decide if it's salvageable with a warning to keep it on track, or if it's so off the rails it should just be closed.

But this shouldn't be that much later, usually a few minutes at most.

Yeah I get that, but I'm talking about threads that have been closed for days now with no explanation. I've been seeing a bunch of them lately. I would link some examples, but not sure if that would be breaking the rules or not.

[Pannonian]

Could this also be a bug?

I saw the thread 2 below this one closed yesterday without an explanation. 2 hours later when i went to bed there was still none. Today in the morning when i reloaded the page the answer was there and according to the time stamp way earlier than i went to bed. Maybe the software has problems viewing posts that were made after a thread has been closed?

[the game]

they don't really owe you any explanation.

[Travis B]

they don't really owe you any explanation.

I never said they did, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to make a post that doesn't answer my question and is absolutely no help at all.

[MHMabrito]

I never said they did, so I'm not sure why you felt the need to make a post that doesn't answer my question and is absolutely no help at all.

How would an answer to your question be of help to you?

[Tziva]

As a general rule, yes, we try to always leave a closing message. Although rare, there are two situations in which it won't happen:

One, we don't want to bump the thread. If it's fallen off the first page or dropped really low and is a pretty bad/inappropriate thread, we may decide its better to close without a closing message than to reply and bring it back up to attention. Usually, however, these threads are pretty obviously inappropriate and anyone familiar with the rules should be able to understand the reason for the lock.

Two, chaud sees a bad thread and locks it. He doesn't usually leave closing messages, and instead asks us to. Sometimes we don't see them or don't see them quickly and they go without a message. These are also fairly rare occurrences but it does happen sometimes.

If you're genuinely not sure why something was locked, you can PM a mod of that section or a global and ask and we can explain. However, I think in most situations it is pretty easy to tell why a thread was locked even without a closing message if one knows the site rules.