Following feedback from the player base and further internal discussion, we have decided to loosen some of the restrictions on megathreads in the General and Arts & Fiction forums.
We don't necessarily want to shut down long-running discussions, nor do we think it would be productive or practical to do so. If people want to keep discussing whether llamas are better than squirrels across multiple 500-page threads (the right answer is 'vicuñas are better than either'), then it would likely be counterproductive for us to step in and say 'stop your ongoing comparative discussion of llamas and squirrels, and start comparing alpacas and chipmunks'.
So the steps we're taking focus on holding back from forced merging / locking of any topic that's tangentially related to an existing long-running discussion, and ending the semi-official thread numbering that can potentially look intimidating to new site users.
We're therefore going to implement the following:
1) We will hold back from forced merging / locking of threads unless they're a direct duplicate of an existing thread.
2) We will end the numbering system that designates semi-official megathreads, unless that numbering accompanies a live news event such as an election or war. In practice, we'll generally allow existing active numbered megathreads to run until they hit 500 pages. But when starting a new thread on the same or similar topic, please do not give it a sequential number unless it's on a live topic.
3) TET will continue in its current form.
4) Left-wing and right-wing discussion threads remain banned for the time being.
We hope that these steps will allow long-running discussions to continue while also allowing more diversity of discussion. We acknowledge that there are likely some grey areas, particularly on defining 'direct duplicate' in point 1 and over what constitutes a 'live topic' in point 2; there may be some judgement calls at times while this beds in. If you're uncertain about the practical impact, please raise a query in Moderation.
As an example... the next Ukraine war thread can continue sequential numbering since that's an active live news event; the next Christian Discussion Thread shouldn't. That doesn't mean someone can't or shouldn't start a new Christian Discussion Thread, only that its semi-official numbered designation as the sole thread for discussion of Christian topics would end; if someone wanted to start separate threads to discuss Coptic Christianity in Egypt or the impact of liberation theology in South America, then the latter two threads wouldn't be immediately merged with the broader ongoing discussion thread.
