Oh my! This has certainly turned into a bashing thread for anyone who leaves a forum with a problem! Maybe the person just wants to vent. They might have gotten upset and wants the rest of the forum to know. There are bad apples everywhere you go! I just said good bye to such a forum. I didn't create a thread...just made a final post in my welcome thread. You all most likely disapprove of that, but we all have the right to have our say! I am a member of a lot of forums, and I have seen the moderators close threads that shouldn't be closed! I think they let the "power" go to their heads! I would never ban a member who posted a goodbye on my forum. I would try to get in touch with them and see if I could rectify whatever problem they had (unless I had a problem myself with that member).

And age has nothing to do with this. I'm probably older than most of you, but that doesn't mean I take kindly to being belittled or talked down to just because it's easier on the web. Kids think that they can sit at their computers and talk down to adults, just because they don't have to see them! It just goes with the territory, I guess!

Sorry about the rant! I just felt it needed to be said!

I haven't had this problem before of members leaving... I hope I never do but I'm sure it will come up eventually. They normally just stop coming.

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I've had this happen. I have in my rules that the account will be banned and they will be unable to return under any other name.

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Well, considering they're leaving, they probably don't care about not being able to come back! The only way I can see banning them is if they slammed me in their goodbye post! Then I certainly wouldn't want them gracing my doorway again, so to speak! But you can't keep them out, if they want back. They can always just use another computer and email address. I just try to make sure my members are treated well, which is why I won't allow fights on the public boards. I refuse to let my forum turn into a war zone, which has mostly kept the peace!

I had several members who threatened to leave because they didn't like the views that other members had on homosexuality. I told them that on my forum I encouraged "discussions," and that instead of bashing, insulting or storming out, they should try and change a poster's view by bringing an argument on the table! It calmed them down immediately.

So to answer the question of this thread: No, you shouldn't stop goodbye threads. You should just stop the sympathy they're trying to get.

How can you stop the sympathy w/o closing the thread?

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I went to Vegas, and all I got was this Blister. - true story!

If you close the threads, you turn them into martyrs.
But if you expose them, then you stop the sympathy.
It's been my experience anyways.

Maybe it's not sympathy they're after? They want to vent and bring to light the problem they have. Others may or may not feel the same way, but it's called freedom of speech. If someone wants to be able to respond, either to defend themselves or the creator of the thread, that should also be within his/her rights...as long as they follow the rules the admin has laid out. Of course, if it is in the rules that goodbye threads will not be tolerated, well then, I guess the member must abide by that. Or the post should be deleted. No reason to ban the member or close the thread, since neither of those serves any purpose.

If they just want to vent and bring to light the problem they have, they would contact the admin or mod personally in a PM. But when they post goodbye threads, it's often to get sympathy and rally other members to their side.

I agree with you, closing the thread serves absolutely no purpose. You should either allow it or delete it. I have a Feedback section on my forum, my members are free to address any issue they'd have in it, as long as it's not personal.

If they are posting a goodbye thread, saying they are never returning, it shouldn't affect them to ban them

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