There’re two long topics discussing language features that I propose should be closed.
- 100+ replies: What is the advantage of “companion object” vs static keyword
- 160+ replies: Ternary operator
I believe these topics should be closed for the following reasons:
The topics are so long that good posts are lost in the noise
There have been several good posts and discussions on these topics but those posts are lost in the mountain of replies petitioning for/against the feature being discussed or replies restating points made earlier in the topic. Unlike Reddit, good posts don’t float to the top.
The topics aren’t ending naturally
These topics are interesting and people will have an opinion on them. This is great until the topic becomes a place to petition for/against a position. Even though everything has been said, another user will come in support/against the feature of discussion without communicating anything new.
The topics are at risk of becoming toxic
A portion of the posts speaks to why the another person’s opinion is invalid because of ignorance or their position, or posts that completely ignore the comments of the other person’s opinion to restate their own position.
Some benefits for closing these topics:
Specific questions of the features could start fresh without a year’s worth of posts
Closing the topics would force those with specific questions to start new topics. Replies could be directed to their specific use-case instead of to a large, year-long discussion. With smaller direct threads, we could avoid introducing the same points several times over again that might not relate to their question or idea.
The topics could not be persisted by a small group of users.
Currently, a single person can keep the thread alive or push it away from good discussion points. Since these topics have become the primary place to discuss these features, a small group of users is able to throw off the conversation for everyone.
If this were Reddit, we could upvote/downvote the topic to healthy discussion.
Closing the topic would preserve the good discussion made on these topics
Closing the topics to new replies preserves the valuable replies made hidden within deep within the topics and would hopefully stop the cycle of aggressive petitioning without providing new information. As the topics continue to grow, the good points become harder to find.
What do you guys think?
Is there a reason for closing the topics I missed? Should we move these topics to Reddit? Or instead, should leave these topics open for another year of quasi-voting on their issues?
