Jeff, what does it mean when a thread is locked?

[Anonymous]

I was doing a little research on a surgeon recommended in one of the posts today (Dr. Michael Olding re: breast implants) and found a number of threads in whcih he is mentioned but the one I picked to read is locked. What does that mean? Is there any significance? Someone in the thread accused the doctor of being the OP. Should I be discounting the recommendations in that thread, or is the lock unrelated to that accusation? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

For example, here's a locked one about this doctor
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/137811.page

[Anonymous]

he locked a bunch of old threads

[jsteele]

If the thread is old, it is probably an automated lock I do on old threads. Because old threads mostly get posted to by spambots, I lock them.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:For example, here's a locked one about this doctor
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/137811.page

The last post in that thread is from 2010. So, I more than likely never even saw that thread. It was locked by an automated process.

[Anonymous]

Gotcha. Thanks! I was wondering if there was something going on with that guy.