closing my personal thread...

Do I have the option to close my personal thread, i.e one that was initiated by me? If so, how?

Mufy

hi there,

Nope.

"report this post to moderator" is the best way.
Explain why and the mods will close for you.

regards

slackie1000

Only moderators can close threads. If you want a thread you started closed, please report it and give good reasons in why you want it closed. We only close threads under certain circumstances, double postings, breaking any of the rules, etc. If your thread is not doing any of these, there's really no reason to close it.

Regards.

Additionally, a future reader may have the same question (or one very similar to the original) and if the original thread were closed, a brand new thread covering the exact same topic would need to be created. Over time, this would make locating any solutions more difficult, simply because it would dramatically raise the number of threads that a Search would return for any given set of criteria. This is undesirable and duplicative.

As trickykid explained, unless there is a particular reason for closing a thread, they will be left open. Note that threads that stop receiving replies essentially exist in a dormant status - they can be revived if a member posts a followup comment, etc, but otherwise they pretty much remain in the background. -- J.W.

Mods, dear sweet mods, good looking mods etc

1) Newbies do not always do a search as already been covered but if the title had the word "solved" or "appears resolved" that I suggested in another thread, IF THE SEARCH was done, then there would be less chance of a new thread.

2) If newbies do a search, and see (say) a 2 page list of titles like
monitor blank
benq fails with mdk
help I can't get X to work

they may not read every post. Nor redo a search to be more specific or vague?

3) So 2 issues arise
A) By initially posting a thread as (say) "Monitor blank screen" and finding out the answer was a wrong xorg conf or video card selection THEY are unable to amend the title to reflect that it was solved and a summary of the contents
so searching is harder

B) by not closing a thread, a certain level of 'hijacking' occurs......someone reads that person X solved a problem so they jump in and ask for help on a thread theme different from the original issue.....Now I am not interested in reporting that to mods.....sorry....but I am talking about my hope that enough mods may see that there is merit in SOME posters being able to close their threads and/or amending the title to reflect the contents and it was SOLVED

And seeing solved will brighten up any one doing a search quicker than anything else.

well thats my aussie 2 cents worth,,,,,with gst 2.2 cents

Originally posted by aus9 Mods, dear sweet mods, good looking mods etc

aus9 is talking to me obviously

1) Newbies do not always do a search as already been covered but if the title had the word "solved" or "appears resolved" that I suggested in another thread, IF THE SEARCH was done, then there would be less chance of a new thread. 2) If newbies do a search, and see (say) a 2 page list of titles like monitor blank benq fails with mdk help I can't get X to work they may not read every post. Nor redo a search to be more specific or vague? 3) So 2 issues arise A) By initially posting a thread as (say) "Monitor blank screen" and finding out the answer was a wrong xorg conf or video card selection THEY are unable to amend the title to reflect that it was solved and a summary of the contents so searching is harder B) by not closing a thread, a certain level of 'hijacking' occurs......someone reads that person X solved a problem so they jump in and ask for help on a thread theme different from the original issue.....Now I am not interested in reporting that to mods.....sorry....but I am talking about my hope that enough mods may see that there is merit in SOME posters being able to close their threads and/or amending the title to reflect the contents and it was SOLVED And seeing solved will brighten up any one doing a search quicker than anything else. well thats my aussie 2 cents worth,,,,,with gst 2.2 cents

Good idea, definitely would take on a huge load, this would require a significant amount if increased reading of nearly every thread posted by the mod/mods in that area. But on paper, this is a great idea. However, by giving this power to the hands of the initial thread starter, it might reduce this new load, rather, eliminate it other than the problem with wading through the '[solved]' threads to ensure they are in fact solved, or that another thread that forked within the solved thread is correctly dealt with (responded to, split, whatever...).

.... Hmmm....

Cool

it's much nicer to just reply to yourself, saying you've already fixed it, and quote any URL's that you found useful. no need to close it, that could easily be abused.

Thankyou good looking mod and Acid can I suggest you come to australia and get a tan.......nuh love you just the way you are.

2) http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=253039 Have you gracious mods seen this thread now we have some merit?

3) The suggestion is NOT to give all posters the right to amend the title only those that Jeremy thinks would be non-abusive etc.
or if the original poster has not that power someone who answered might?

4) I do agree that a simple reply solves the act for mods.......but still leaves some searching by newbies with a harder task. altho if they use NOT solved as well as eg monitor fails etc it may help.

5) But I return to my theme of this thread that when they (and I are less worthy good looking ausssie) do not search the threads properly, seeing a title with SOLVED in it will surely cut down the posts?

I agree that I do not think like a mod but I believe the long term benefits of this extra right to amend YOUR title/subject line will cut down posts quicker than dangling your legs in the waters off Darwin.....thats not a lot of croc.......groan he leaves

On paper, this idea sounds reasonable, but in practice, I do not think that it would produce the results you suggest, namely that it would "surely cut down the [number of] posts". The reason for this is simply that a given problem may be due to multiple causes, and what might work for "A" might be useless for "B".

Example: A new thread is created entitled "No sound from the CD". As you know, there could be several reasons for this, such as the ALSA volume levels being muted, the speaker cable being plugged into the wrong jack on the soundcard, a missing audio cable between the CD drive and the soundcard, a missing kernel module, etc. By allowing a variety of comments to be made and discussed within a single thread, other readers who may be encountering the same difficulty will benefit from seeing all the suggestions and proposed fixes in one place.

In contrast, assuming a particular suggestion fixed the problem for the original poster, and he/she then changed the thread title to say "Solved!!", then anyone else reading that thread in the future would reasonably conclude that the same action should resolve their problem too. After all, a label of "Solved" certainly implies some level of confidence and assurance that the solution will in fact work.

Unfortunately, that is not always a good bet, and more likely than not, if the "solution" didn't work for someone else, that second LQ'er would end up creating a new thread covering the same exact topic. This would compound the problem of having multiple threads all related to the same topic rather than to improve it..

Lastly, as acid mentioned, all LQ'ers already have the ability to do what you propose -- to indicate that a given solution worked, all that's necessary is for the original poster to update the thread with a comment describing how he/she solved the problem. Similarly, the LQ Tutorials are specifically designed to offer guidance and direction on given topics. Note that any article submitted as a Tutorial must first be vetted by the mods in order to confirm its accuracy, readability, and effectiveness. Anyone who has an article they feel would be of interest to the LQ membership on a long-term basis would be encouraged to submit it by clicking on the "Submit Howto" button on the LQ Tutorial page. -- J.W.

Woah! Never thought my thread would get so much of attention and that too from the moderators. I'm honoured guys. It sure is nice to see so many pros and cons to this issue.

I can tell from what I have seen so far that all are justified in their own ways. And that only compounds our difficulty to arrive at a general consensus.

Mufy

Originally posted by J.W. On paper, this idea sounds reasonable, but in practice, I do not think that it would produce the results you suggest, namely that it would "surely cut down the [number of] posts". The reason for this is simply that a given problem may be due to multiple causes, and what might work for "A" might be useless for "B".

Glad to see other good looking, sweet mods responding

Example: A new thread is created entitled "No sound from the CD". As you know, there could be several reasons for this, such as the ALSA volume levels being muted, the speaker cable being plugged into the wrong jack on the soundcard, a missing audio cable between the CD drive and the soundcard, a missing kernel module, etc. By allowing a variety of comments to be made and discussed within a single thread, other readers who may be encountering the same difficulty will benefit from seeing all the suggestions and proposed fixes in one place.

Simply to play devil's advocate, here I go. The idea above where a 'split' or a 'fork' may be necessary is exactly what I am talking about for the further discussion. Yes, the immediate would require a bit more "moderating" but the long run would mean more desirable search results within the threads (obviously after recieving a make over in the title to give a more exact/appropriate thread title).

In contrast, assuming a particular suggestion fixed the problem for the original poster, and he/she then changed the thread title to say "Solved!!", then anyone else reading that thread in the future would reasonably conclude that the same action should resolve their problem too. After all, a label of "Solved" certainly implies some level of confidence and assurance that the solution will in fact work.

See above for the idea on how to curb this ^

Unfortunately, that is not always a good bet, and more likely than not, if the "solution" didn't work for someone else, that second LQ'er would end up creating a new thread covering the same exact topic. This would compound the problem of having multiple threads all related to the same topic rather than to improve it..

IF and that's a huge fat IF my above suggestion worked, the initial would certainly increase the amount of posts, but the topics would be slightly different enough to warrant. In the uber long run, IF the above worked, this would result in an overall less frequency of double posting as the scenarios for the different situations would be covered in any 1 of several threads marked 'Solved!' for whatever reason the question was originally posted.

Lastly, as acid mentioned, all LQ'ers already have the ability to do what you propose -- to indicate that a given solution worked, all that's necessary is for the original poster to update the thread with a comment describing how he/she solved the problem. Similarly, the LQ Tutorials are specifically designed to offer guidance and direction on given topics. Note that any article submitted as a Tutorial must first be vetted by the mods in order to confirm its accuracy, readability, and effectiveness. Anyone who has an article they feel would be of interest to the LQ membership on a long-term basis would be encouraged to submit it by clicking on the "Submit Howto" button on the LQ Tutorial page. -- J.W.

This is where the devil's advocate point almost completely loses. The biggest difference being the immediate satisfaction from the search results. The "Solved" threads would give the info to those not wanting to wade through the current thread setup to see if the solution has been reached or not. But the basic point I think that begs to be made here is to complete your thread. Give the follow up/summary of what finally worked and the steps taken to achieve this. If this was certainly a process thought worthy of a complete write-up, submit the solution as an LA, attach it in the wiki, or write the novel and contact O'Reilly to see if they'll publish it

I think all in all, the best overall solution that will universally be both usable, and reasonably accepted as a way of doing things is the post the solution at the end of your thread and leave it at that. Others can come along and use it as they please, just as they do now; to either piggyback their thread from yours, or to use it's invaluable information in their tight situation that they can't program their way out of.



Cool