Do you know that he had prepared a new post but couldn't publish it because the thread was closed? And if he did, I've already said that I would've re-opened the thread had he simply asked.



Closing the thread should in no way be an "insult" to Michael or to any participant in the thread. The only one I can conceivably imagine who would be insulted would be the original poster of the thread and it doesn't appear he was offended--he just created a new thread a week or so later.



I agree. Let's make the following change to the concept of closing threads that have been abandoned by the original poster: "Threads will only be closed if the original poster is no longer participating in the thread and the thread is no longer discussing the issues related to those of the original post."

I have no problems with people offering lots of ideas about a problem even when the original poster has abandoned a thread. I do think it's worthwhile to close down threads where the original poster hasn't come back and 1) Members are all just asking more questions that the original poster needs to answer. or 2) The thread has gone completely off-topic and are talking about what they did last weekend rather than anything technically related to the thread.

But I agree that a thread that is generating productive discussion and ideas doesn't need to be shut down just because the original poster hasn't returned.

Regards,
Craig Steiner
8052.com Webmaster