should we make the lounge an unmoderated forum? Options

[micron]

hi all,

i was browing through my old site before i made cb... and it had a forums, where the equivalent of cb's "the lounge" wasn't moderated. i thought that was a good idea, and leaning towards implementing it here.

dont get me wrong. moderating is good and all, but sometimes it can really discourage members from participating. for example, there seems to be a trend where staff members close topics if the topic was talked about before, even if it's been over a year. this might be good in that it promotes organization, but in reality, it really kills the participitory aspect of the forums. sometimes things need to be revisted and retalked. its part of everyday life.

if we continue on like this, where topics get closed because it revists an older topic, sooner or later, there will be nothing to talk about. period.

so. what do you think? should we let the lounge be completely unmoderated by staff members? or should be do a compromise, where staff members are only allowed to move topics elsewhere, but cannot close the topics here?

let me hear from you. staff members may also contribute. =)