[Mike Irwin]

Just because people want to talk about something doesn't mean that:

1. It's an appropriate topic for discussion at TFL.

2. That if it is, that it's a progressive topic of discussion for TFL, rather than a stagnant one.

By progressive, I mean one that continues to progress as a discussion, rather than one that stagnates into people simply reiterating the same points in a different way.

There's only so many ways to say something before it becomes stale and repetitive, and when it does become stale and repetitive, it's a waste of bandwith.

When it becomes a waste of bandwidth, it's wasting the money of the guy who foots the ENTIRE bill for this place -- Rich Lucibella.

So, to make sure we don't waste Rich's money, we shut down threads in which there's no longer anything new to say, no matter how popular they may seem to be.