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Fellow Xoopsers (vB3Dev: that includes you as long as you're here):
In my opinion, locking a thread or closing a debate is not meant to supress discussion. It's the only resource a moderator has to make a pause when things start getting out of hand. And when it comes to our own preferences we all get a little carried away sometimes. So it's a sound practice, as long as it doesn't happen every day.
These forums are indeed to discuss issues, to argue, to defend our preferences and to do many more things: to solve a problem, to learn a new technique, to build community, in a word. But discussion also has a few rules, and a valuable rule is the one that states a good discussion gives you food for thought (of course: I just made this rule).
As we've seen here, it's actually very easy to provoke a reaction; it's easy to make some people angry. But the fact that it's easy doesn't mean it's correct or should be allowed. And this goes both ways. In order to start a fight, you need two parties.
My 2 cents. I'm willing to listen to everybody with a sound argument. I'm deaf to adjectives, to name calling, to unsubstantiated axioms, to loud dogma in whatever form it adopts. I gladly help those who ask; I listen to those who dialogue and I expect all this to be an enjoyable experience.
So, please, we're all around here because we believe XOOPS gives us all something. As a product, we know XOOPS it's far from perfect, and we're doing our best to improve it. And since this is no commercial software, my bet is it can only be improved through a collective effort. I wish we can all find in this effort a satisfying and enrichable experience.
Cheers.
