can we have a facility where the original poster can decide to end a thread?

[pukkapatch]

or is that not possible? or against mn policy?

also, can threads be deleted a bit earlier than the current thirty thousand years? i know chat ones are, but was hoping that the others could also be. perhaps all threads not posted on for five years could be deleted to help keep anonymity from our children as they grow old enough to be mn memebers themselves?

It wasn't THAT bad a thread pukka!

wow r u kidding babe

thiry thousand years ....roffle

no, not that one girls. just generally other threads.
i'm thinking of someof the breast bottle ones. or the relationship ones. or parenting ones, or news ones or just other ones with controversial topics on them.

bump would be good idea or just keeps threads for longer time if they are usefull disscussions like feeding,nappys etc

it is trinity. they keep them for something like 10000000000000days. which works out roughly at thirty thoousand years. more accurately at 27 thousand years or so.

if u want a thread to be deleted start it in chat anyway darls

No, I like them there - they're an archive, a rich tapestry of MN history.

Plus they're good ammo useful reference in future fights disagreements.

it is a fact of mn life that once u post a thread u don't own it...although if it was a big mistake u can get mnhq to take pity tho they will try and get u to leave it

Message withdrawn

nope babe u havent

it's just the company i keep these days hunni

u can try of course as it gives us all a right larf

just say

this thread is finished now thank you

or

right this is the end of the thread

No way!!! Someone comes along, posts something, people start to disagree and the op says right, I'm done now. The End.

Bugger that!

I'd just start another thread of my own to continue the conversation. I'm not about to have anyone tell me when I am no longer allowed an opinion!

this has come up befor eand i think the consensus then was that someone could come along and start trolling then close the thread.

I suggested locking threads after a certain amount of time - locking by MNHQ and after say a year or so but i doin't think anyone ever replied to that thread!

but then AIBU threads would be really short. It'd go 'am i being unreasonable to do so and so?'
YANBU
YANBU
YANBU
YABU! TWAT
RIGHT THAT'S IT THIS THREAD IS CLOSED!!

No, no no. Can you imagine:

"I smack my children often"
"well you are breaking the law"
"I don't agree with smacking"
"leave the OP alone, she means the odd tap, not beating"
OP: "I don't want to hear anything I disagree with. I will beat my children if I want to. End of"

etc etc

So I really really think this is a bad idea.
And I also don't think threads should be deleted.

How would we know people had flounced off their threads if they were able to delete them. Talking of which, has everyone given up flouncing? Haven't seen a decent tissy for ages!

Hi,

Tbh, I can't see that either of these things will happen. Firstly, if a load of people have taken the time and effort to contribute to a thread, it just wouldn't be fair for the OP to suddenly decide to delete it.

Secondly, as WWW says, this would undoubtedly end up with the option being abused and we'd lose the debates that we're becoming noted for! What's more, where contentious threads are concerned, we have found over the years that the debate that they throw up, particularly when members explain why such comments are hurtful/unacceptable etc, actually goes a long way to educating the Mumsnet community and changing the way people think. We think this is a valuable thing.

As for deleting old threads - again, we think they're a valuable resource. So many different topics have been covered over the years - to just wipe out all that collective knowledge at the press of a button seems unthinkable to me. The other alternative would be to wade through them and work out which ones are worth keeping and which ones aren't... but as this would probably take the next decade or so, working 24/7, I think that's highly unlikely!

lol www

"I don't want to hear anything I disagree with. I will beat my children if I want to. End of"

sorry perhaps that's not really funny but it's just so mumsnet isn't it?

I'm not sure about "deleting" but I do think a "locking" thing (perhaps operated by MNHQ?" may be a good idea for certain threads.......so the debate/argument/advice is still there - but no more fuel can be added to the fire if things are getting rather out of hand....

Bloody hell, I wouldn't want to be the curator responsible for Early Internet Talkboards in 29996 years time when the threads in the Mumsnet section of the archive suddenly start deleting themselves

Re' locking theads: There's not a lot of point adding to poor Tech's workload unnecessarily - if a thread hasn't been posted on in five years it's not that often that it springs up again. Am thinking horse and stable door...

well - I was think more about threads that are posted on recently where things have really kicked off - and it's turned into a slanging match rather than a debate.........

I agree that ancient threads there's no point in locking them.