The problem is, we don't know why the thread was closed.

If your child misbehaves, you don't just punish him/her with no explanation, do you? Surely you tell the child why he/she is being punished - punishment without an explanation of the reason is meaningless and serves only to breed anger and resentment in the punishee.

If, as has been suggested, the Mods were pissed off with the OP (or anyone else who has transgressed their secret rules that mere mortals like us aren't allowed to know), wouldn't it make more sense to block further posts from him/them and, so long as the thread remains reasonably good-humoured, allow everyone else to continue to contribute?

Anyhow, after a good night's sleep, I've resigned myself to the notion that 'none are so deaf as they who will not hear'. I've got a dog to walk and a song to write, time to leave...