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I'd like to point out one byproduct of closing threads: After one day, they no longer show on the "today's threads" searches. Of course one can manually search for older posts, but many of us regularly don't. When I've been away for more than a day, I check what's on the front page, and the just go through the "daily search" routine.
It might be worth some way of extending the reach of a closed thread, by posting a separate weekly list of stuff that got closed. At least then I might see controversial stuff that I just happened to miss, especially if it was a thread I looked at once several days ago but not since it turned ugly.
And, on a nit-picking note, if we can't mention anything about the wars, how do we answer the questions we get from folks on duty in various deserts about their readers and books?
We all seem to love Baen Books - but one of the scariest displays I've ever seen was on Baen's Bar during the week after 911. people I at least sorta respected posted lots of inflammatory statements, and then magnified off each other. Jim closed the whole Bar for a week, just to cool things off, just took the whole thing offline. When we were allowed back on, everyone was rather embarrassed by the raw emotion displayed (at least, they said they were in what was posted....)
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