Are there established boundaries which make an Episode 3 spoiler theory acceptable or not?

I?ll speak very generally here. I know that there will always be problems with this aspect in the 3SA because it?s difficult to determine what makes one?s theory acceptable and another's not.

How can one determine if one person's theory makes sense and is likely to occur in Episode 3 and the other person's theory will not?

It?s difficult because it involves personal opinion on the specific subject.


The only clear cut boundaries that would render a thread locked are if it is either

1)Wrong information (intentionally or unintentionally) which is conflicting with what is already a confirmed spoiler or conflicting with a highly likely rumour.

or

2)Humorous in a way that it?s obvious that the user is either just annoying or new to the boards.

However in the second case, the user was usually directed to the ?Crazy Theory" thread, so that if some (even if it?s a minority of users) agree with the theory, the discussion can continue there. I hope this continues to take place.

I?m sure the boards will be better with the two new mods, however the initial question of this post remains.

I?m just posting because lately I?m seeing more threads which contain a theory that is improbable but possible to take place in Episode 3 (and hasn?t been proved wrong by any spoiler or rumour) which get locked and other threads which contain little argument for discussion which remain open

I don?t want this to seem negative. I?m very happy with the Episode 3 forum. It?s my favourite board. There are great threads and great people there, and I thank everyone for their discussions there and all mods for keeping it as it should and contributing to discussions.

 

In my experience the types of threads you are describing, the "it's possible, it hasn't been disproven yet" are the trickiest to determine the fate of.

Those that are locked are probably being discussed elsewhere. If they aren't and they aren't quite crazy theory territory, who knows?

It's my understanding that a mod must provide an explanation for every thread that is locked. If you have a question about why a certain thread is locked over another that stays open, check to see why the first was locked, and if you don't like the explanation or think that another thread is also redundant or unneccessary PM a mod and ask them why it is still open.

 

It's my understanding that a mod must provide an explanation for every thread that is locked.

I agree. In fact this is a primary reason why I posted this thread. Of course it all comes down to the opinion of anyone who reads the theory and it?s ultimately the mod who decides whether to keep the thread or not. But a good explanation is important.


If you have a question about why a certain thread is locked over another that stays open, check to see why the first was locked, and if you don't like the explanation or think that another thread is also redundant or unneccessary PM a mod and ask them why it is still open.

I could definitely question a few threads, but I?m not going to do so unless asked for because it?s not such a serious matter. I think it?s better if past threads remain as they are ? locked or unlocked and future threads are dealt with more care.

To be clear ? Most threads are already taken care of excellently, and as I said above I don?t want to sound negative.

All I?m asking for is just a slight more care to a good explanation for the locking, and if possible a link to an alternative thread.

 

I usually try to provide a link to an alternate thread. Times when I don't would include if the person was a troll who was being banned anyway. I'm not going to redirect someone I just banned.

As for crazy theory threads being locked, if there is a direct quote from PH or GL or something like that which blatantly contradicts the theory, I'll lock the thread and provide the quote stating otherwise. If it's just an off-the-wall theory which there's nothing to directly disprove, I'll let it go. We have some threads in 3SA which I personally think are comprised of completely insane ideas from people who have absolutely no idea what the movies are actually about, but I'm not going to tell them they can't talk about their ideas. I'm not the thought police.

 

Isn't there also an official crazy theories thread in 3SA?

I remember seeing it but not sure if it's been locked.

 

I know what you mean Keeper_of_Swords I made a thread titled " palpatine assumed dead " in which I talked about how maybe palpatine fakes his death and then claims as darth sidious that he killed him , and that got locked for no reason .

 

royalguard96 is right. There's a 'Crazy Theories' thread somewhere in the 3SA. I guess you can assume theories all you want, but things such as claiming you know the title and stuff like that we know your lying about, it'll be locked.

 

I usually try to provide a link to an alternate thread. Times when I don't would include if the person was a troll who was being banned anyway. I'm not going to redirect someone I just banned.

Thanks for your work Dehrian and all other mods.

I remember seeing it but not sure if it's been locked.

As Smuggler-of-Mos-Espa said, I don?t think it has been locked, royalguard96.


I made a thread titled " palpatine assumed dead " in which I talked about how maybe palpatine fakes his death and then claims as darth sidious that he killed him , and that got locked for no reason.

Perhaps that was a kind of thread that could be classified as ?Improbbable but not impossible,? and raise a few good conversations. However remember about the sensitivity of that topic with regards to Palpatine being a clone etc, and the discussion may have veered to an uncertain direction.

Also my first post was more about how theories are judged in general, not about specific threads.

but things such as claiming you know the title and stuff like that we know your lying about, it'll be locked.

Agreed.

 

I think a lot of this determination comes down to experience and being completely familiar with what's out there already in terms of information. Most of what the mods say is not going to happen, isn't because it's already been proven elsewhere. Not every person who posts in the 3SA believes the information out there, they don't have Hyperspace, or they're trolling with false information with the goal of yelling after it gets locked.

Now, sometimes there are some threads that are started where we'll lock it and mark it as 'pending'. The one's that are possible or unique and plausible, we'll tell them to PM Joshua Griffin when they claim inside information. Lots of times, that'll weed out people because their stuff isn't real and it's confirmed by them not going through the owner.

And sometimes, Josh'll PM me back telling me it's a go on that thread. But all in all, most people don't have inside information or are only spitting back what's already out there but they didn't know it was out there. That's why we as 3SA mods try to know everything that's out there. Most fans who post in that forum aren't on top of all the spoilers.

So what happens is they'll stumble across something on another German site, some messageboard, etc.... start a thread here not realizing we KNEW that 5 months ago, and we have to lock it. And one more thing, mods have admin tools that will alert us that the thread author is a banned troll or someone who posts false information as their modus operandi. I can't tell you how many people tell me they live in California, are posting at the moment from California and have inside information, but their personal information/IP/host/e-mail is all about Boston.

As much as we possibly can, we give everything a chance. Regarding the CRAZY theories thread, I rarely send something there. But if something could happen, albeit 1 in 1,000,000,000,000 chances, we do go with our gut and redirect it there. But that is better than locking it altogether. At least in that thread it stays alive.

 

Can you start editing some special marker into threads that had to go thru Josh ?

That would make things much easier.

 

Most folks don't want to be identified that way. If a thread is active, on some level you can assume that it has gone through Josh, has some legitimacy to it, or it could happen with some probability.