Board Thread:General Coding Help/@comment-12913802-20150503015131/@comment-452-20150504144454

There are several angles to the issue.

The one I'm primarily talking about is the technicalities of the TOU, which states that you are not allowed to use javascript to prevent default user interface from being used.
 * Using javascript to disable any default button = forbidden (in almost all cases)

What you are talking about is the policy of some wikis of closing long or old discussions. Which is why the "close thread" option exists, and part of the reason why the new "forum moderator" right was introduced.

I'm coming at the issue from "The TOU says this, therefore you can't.", you're coming at the issue from "Well, I can do this anyway, so why can't I?" (Reason: because the TOU says so.)

Somewhat related is the "remove thread" function:
 * Some wikis have rules regarding removing messages.
 * When Message Wall was introduced, some people saw the presence of "remove thread" as permission to do so, or a way to "mark as read".
 * Some admins, including myself, wanted to hide the "remove thread" option to stop people from using it.  After all, it's against policy, and all removed threads would have to be restored by admins, so why not hide it and save some time?
 * Wikia Staff forbade it, citing that same part of the TOU, and pointing out that it's also possible to blank pages, but the fact it is possible does not mean it's allowed.