Problem I've got with the locked Schuey thread

[sweetchuk]

Hi all,

This is not a rant against mods or anything else of that kind, but a personal reflection on this recent habit of locking that thread, opening it only when a moderator thinks there's a worthy update to avail our eyes of.

This is supposed to be a free thinking & personal opinion expression forum - certainly within the rules and within the tastes of the normal fan / viewer / industry spokesperson etc alike.

At no time in the thread did I see anyone make any tasteless suggestions, try to turn it into anything but a 99% pro-Schuey-get-better thread, with their well wishes and good thoughts directed to him and his family, and naturally (& rightly so imo), scorn toward underhanded media tactics in their attempts at an 'exclusive shot'.

Their have been people of assumed or stated medical opinion on here saying there's little or no chance of him improving over the apparent state he has been in since his operation - yet here we are, a few months later on and the latest news is seemingly contrary to that particular opinion.

Of course you will get people offering their opinion on both the accident and the person involved - he is, after all, the most storied living F1 World Champion.
However I feel that limiting a Forum reply to only those that moderators feel obliged to offer us, particularly a topic as worldly as the situation that has affected Michael Schumacher, seems contrary to one of the principles this Forum was founded upon.

While I applaud the generally excellent job the Forum mods do here - and let's face it, it is a job for devoted people who are sincere in their belief in the community - I also believe that the community needs to be able to air their views in an uncensored, honest from the heart spirit, and that should not be limited or lost when it comes to airing views or opinions on Michael Schumacher, his condition or their best wishes for his recovery prospects.

Certainly delete or ban repeat offenders who obviously, deliberately and flagrantly flout the spirit of these Forums or who post inflammatory or toxic rubbish as deemed so by the rules, but I'd respectfully request the Mods to review the Locked Thread policy on the Michael Schumacher thread, as it closes out real feelingg from the very real people who help keep this community alive, vibrant and robust in their discussions.

Commentary on him & his condition, or reflections of him which were also of very real interest in reading have been pared from the thread, while other comments, while sounding impressive enough at the time, have now been apparently proven to be not as cut & dried or as medically impressively sounding now, given developments over the last 24 hours, as they might have sounded a month ago.

Please reconsider unlocking the thread, and give freedom of expression a decent go with that topic.

Just my very small .02cents anyway. Cheers & respects.

[MagnetON]

Hi,

The decision to close the thread was not taken lightly and was only taken after a long discussion between moderators at all levels and the site owners (EP and myself).

We felt at the time the thread was closed that there was a lot of baseless and quite frankly upsetting speculation around MS's condition and prognosis.

The decision to post only official updates was taken when there were a large number of "armchair experts" throwing out their theories on blogs etc. that were also baseless speculation but being posted here that were quite frankly disturbing.

We will continue to monitor the situation and may re-open the thread as necessary.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Hi,

We felt at the time the thread was closed that there was a lot of baseless and quite frankly upsetting speculation around MS's condition and prognosis.

The decision to post only official updates was taken when there were a large number of "armchair experts" throwing out their theories on blogs etc. that were also baseless speculation but being posted here that were quite frankly disturbing.

We will continue to monitor the situation and may re-open the thread as necessary.

Speaking as a member, I think it was an excellent decision to close the MS thread, for all the reasons you have given, well done MagnetON and team!