Yes, locking seemed appropriate to me, as well.

I say that as someone who is an admin at a similar community.

I'm deeply sympathetic of the nature of moderation in a place like this. Truly. It's like herding cats at the best of times.

Deletion of the thread--

not really okay, in my opinion. This punishes contributing members who have made well-considered and thoughtful posts which are on-topic and insightful.

Do that too often and the most insightful and stimulating members of your forum will quit attempting to make those kinds of posts at all.

JME, that. Light moderation is a thing at places like this for a good reason. Yes, it's a little rough and tumble sometimes-- but-- tamping down ALL incivility often comes at a pretty steep cost, too.


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.