WARNING: SOAP BOX LECTURE COMMENCING:
First of all, very few threads are locked. Very few.
If a thread is locked, then usually there is one of the following problems:
* Somebody has advocated doing something illegal, or voiced support for illegal acts
* People have gone too far with personal insults while adding no substantive discussions ("Go fuck your fat wife" is the classic example of this)
* A discussion has turned into a pissing contest between the parties involved
* Trolls from other sites are, well, trolling
By far, on the very few occasions where threads have been locked, the primary reason is the third one listed. These types of "discussions ("You're an asshole." "So's your mother." "Stick it up your ass." "Why don't you come try to stick it up my ass?") provide nothing of value to the board, and are quite tedious. Now, if the insults are witty, then the thread might be allowed to go on for a while. On the whole, though, I think it's a pretty liberal policy about allowing discussions to proceed. You are far more likely to get a public or private note asking everyone to be respectful than you are to see threads locked. We have a good group here, so the restrictions do not need to be onerous.
That said -- why do we care if a poster used to be known as someone else? And why do we care if a poster has chosen to place others on ignore? Let's focus our comments on the sniping in the Vatican, or the Supreme Court nominee, or the upcoming elections, or Bill Cosby, or the President in the United Nations, or whether the Cubs are going to choke up the Central Division title, or any of thousands of other interesting topics.
END SOAP BOX LECTURE