[RussEfarmer]

as I said in another post:

Obviously thread locking is a tool to keep topic threads from derailing or getting too crazy, but if the goal is to foster healthy discussion of the thread topic then locking the thread isn't the ideal outcome and I would like to see it avoided more than it is in favor of other moderation options.

If there are a ton of people on a forum thread talking about something, that should be an awesome thing. Community regulars discussing serious issues is a strong sign of a healthy community and you want it to stay like that. Locking the thread accomplishes the opposite, the only thing locking a thread does is just bubble over the conversation into other communication channels and fails to solve the underlying problem. It's like putting a lid on a pressure cooker, it stops for a while but its just gonna blow up again.

Case in point... LemonTiara's thread "My reply to ckg's thread." WTF was the point of locking the thread if there's just going to be another one carrying on the exact same topic?

A more positive thing to do in situations where threads get heated is block the people who are flaming for a couple hours to cool off. This makes people who can't conduct themselves think for more than 15 seconds before they post something, and rewards the people who aren't rage fueled ogres by letting them keep talking and maybe reach a positive outcome. I've never heard anyone on the forums actually be held accountable for being a gigantic moron and flaming a thread.

[Super Milk Chan]

Definitely generally agree with what you're saying. The forums is more or less the dedicated space for community discussions, and closing threads willy nilly can certainly stifle that, which is not what we want. That said, it can be a fine line to to walk between facilitating an open, constructive (even if uncomfortable) discussion and sponsoring a thread for people to flame each other back and forth.
The truth is that it sometimes makes more sense to temporarily close a thread that's getting out of hand, rather than let it fester with people getting progressively more and more up in arms. Ideally if someone says something shitty, off-topic, or bait-y, people would not engage and continue with the discussion at hand. What seems to often happen instead is a multi-page derailment, which inhibits actual constructive conversation and imo mostly serves to further raise tensions.
It's (very clearly) not a solved problem, but I think threads like this are great for people to leave thoughts and feedback on how to better handle these sorts of tricky situations.

I understand the fine line view, however to me it's just not that fine and if it is fine, it never takes long to make it obvious and not such a fine line anymore. I all so think the words back and forth are getting misinterpreted, we use it to describe a argument with no valued input, but it's all so getting used to describe, you know, a conversation because you know a conversation has to go back and forth to be a conversation. Keep in mind only most of the input needs some actual meat to a comment since not everything is that complicated or needs a paragraph to be labeled as productive input to a conversation.

Yeah I think it gets really hard when some people are being genuine and civil among other people just trying to detonate the thread. Then the people who were trying to be understanding are responding to people who really couldn't care less.
I think the web staff are aware of the type of things they need to do, but it probably will take time to implement it well. I also don't think there eveer has been continuous forum drama like this for over two weeks. Lots of people are just playing the brinkmanship game responding almost tit for tat raising the stakes a bit each time. I would hope that threads getting locked allow for a moment for people involved to reevaluate how to frame the conversation moving forward in a better way, and if it is worth to continue having. 
From your point thought, it does make sense that if someone feels called out explicitly or otherwise they will want to respond on the thread or on a new one until they feel they have been heard. Outside of boring admin announcements it is probably never good to preemptively lock threads, because there of course will just be a response thread. 
Yesterday I was in favor for threads being locked sooner, but from your post and the other comments I am starting to lean towards more individual punishments or even just post deletions. The only downside to that being the forums staff has to be constantly watching the thread or everyone will have seen whatever garbage post is made and will feel a need to respond to it.

I agree with you a lot, but I need to add some detail because we are actually on the same page. The incident I refer to has only 2 party's involved with no one blowing things up. We should talk about the scenario you talked about, it's quite simple, we don't gag the whole server thanks to 3 people being a problem, we deal with the trouble makers, it's not often we will go nuclear and gag the whole server. anyway the point is we can handle that kind of stuff the normal way. The point is, it's getting used in situations that don't call for it. All so a side note is it's not very often web staff will shut town a tread anyone, it's normaly an Admin from one of the game servers.

[chibill]

Why do I feel called out....

[Foxka]

This thread has served out it's usefulness. Locked.

[RyanHighman]

Why do I feel called out....

Nah. You’re good. Pretty sure it’s in reference to the threads that were locked in the days before this one was posted.