It is ridiculous that you can just lock or delete a thread, and the community has no idea why.

I agree with this. A reason should be listed as to why a topic is locked. I see some staff members post a reason why first, but it's sometimes vague and a lot of times it's just not done at all. It should be required to list a solid reason and address how it breaks the rules.

I'm almost used to it by now, but clear reasoning is definitely necessary.

Also while you're at it, I really do suggest losing subjective rulings like "this topic isn't serious enough" or "shitpost". That doesn't work in 2017.

It didn't work in 2002 either.

Yeah there really should be a staff post with the final say in a locked thread stating the reason why it was locked.

[font=Comic Sans MS]Some communication needs to occur between the staff and the community here, whether it be messaging who posted in the topic or a final post before the lock. Mod tools shouldn't be treated as magic buttons that make the Bad go away, because they really don't work that way[/font]

I agree that locks should be clarified. When an admin locks a post without an explanation, it gives the impression they don't like what they're seeing but don't want to deal with the repurcussions of explaining their actions. It also adds ambiguity to who are doing the locks in the first place.

it's absolutely trivial to say "locked for violating rule #1" or whatever after locking a thread. can't believe it doesn't happen sometimes it does at least, shout out to hyliandev for trying to uphold justice

it's dumb to get forced to open a topic just to learn the reason why a topic was locked

We usually do. Our apologies if we don't. We will make note of this thread for sure.