philba said:
no offense, but this seems like a bad idea. Where do you draw the line. An unpopular post would get put into the penalty box even if it doesn't particularly violate any Terms of Use.
well, since the decision to reinstate the thread or not would come down to the moderator, and assuming the moderators are trusted to be good judges of thread quality (which is their job) then it shouldn't be an issue.
It would also make sense to only allow users with a certain number of posts to vote, so only established members of the forum (who have a good feel for what does or does not belong on the forum) would be making the decision. it would also make sense to give some indication when a thread had a number of negative votes and was risking deletion with a few more, and allow members to vote it up as well, so that it would take an overwhelming negative opinion, not just a small handful of irritable folks, to get a thread canned.
also, regarding the difference between popularity and suitability... well, if a thread is unpopular, people either don't respond to it, or they flame the original poster. Either way the thread itself ends up degrading, and being a waste of time, and thus being a good candidate for deletion. take this thread for example; one post telling the OP some very simple info and telling them to not be lazy, and the rest is the same old same old.
The only further 'purpose' of the thread is that in 2-3 years,some new person who just registered will make their first and only post on the forums, resurrecting this thread with a post in all capitals with horrible spelling and no grammar skills, to ask a completely unrelated question.