why is a thread locked?

[chuffman]

So I went to a thread I had contributed to in the recent past. Saw some responses, wanted to reply. The thread was locked. So I am wondering why threads become locked? Why do threads get locked?

 

[DuckLady]

Great question!

A thread can be locked for many reasons.
The thread starter can request it, there could be rules violations or it could be inappropriate for this forum.
Often it will seem that a thread is locked for no reason. The reason for that is usually that we have cleaned it up more than once and the staff feels, after we discuss it, that the thread will continue to be problematic. Or the question is answered by Staff and further discussion is not warranted.