Not in my experience; in my experience people make extensive use of them.
In post 5, Nexus wrote:No. They are more often than not toxic and help to contribute to the toxicity of the site.
Sorry, but that's backwards.
Having a dead thread gives you a healthy place to vent.
It is
far
less toxic in postgame with a dead thread, than it is without one. No dead thread, that pent up anger/emotion is all there, leading to heated postgame debates. Having a dead thread, that allows for the thoughts to be aired out and discussed gradually, over time, rather than unleashed all at once.
These two things having been said
.
While I personally will always make both a dead thread and a spoilered dead thread (which, I do confess,
is
a way to make sure
one
of the two is never used, but which of the two is unused varies game by game and
the other
sees EXTENSIVE use but I digress), they should in no way shape or form EVER be mandatory.
I feel they are fun, they are productive, they allow for games to have an extra layer of enjoyment both during
and
after the game; it's usually more fun to read the dead thread than it is to read mafia chat, and yet it is just as enlightening and informative quite often, with just as good insights.
But while I feel that they are immensely useful, they are not something which you NEED to have. They are a luxury, a commodity, not a given. We USUALLY have them, and I think they are GOOD to have, but if a mod chooses not to have one, that's their choice; so be it. They have the right to that choice, and there can be valid reasons not to have one, and there are some people who prefer not to have them, so mods can theoretically fill that niche if they so chose. (Granted, I think that those players preferring not to have them are being ridiculous, see above for my reasons why, but they have the RIGHT to that opinion/stance even if I think it's an absurd one to have.)