Of course, threads can be reopened. There are some old threads that we closed for a number of noncontroversial reasons, usually because the topic is no longer current, or because there were a number of threads open on the subject, and that made things confusing. If there's a good reason in that sort of situation, we'll generally be glad to reopen a thread. Only Max, Jeff, and Joe have the authority to reopen a thread, so I suggest that you contact one of them directly.

Other threads were closed because they were personal attacks or because they became an all-out brawl. It's not really in the best interest of Mudcat for us to re-open old wounds. Besides, it's easy enough for people to start a new thread and link to the closed one. As for deleted threads, it is very unlikely that we would wish to undelete them. We generally think long and hard before we make a decision to delete or close a thread - it's not a decision we make lightly, and it's not a decision that we're likely to reverse.

You can appeal a thread-closing or deletion decision to Max, if you like. The best way to contact him is by e-mail. It is unlikely that anyone would consider a thread reopening request that is posted in the Forum.

Joe Offer, joe@mudcat.org

(max is max@mudcat.org jeff is jeff@mudcat.org)