As a newbie I don’t know how valuable my opinion is, but I couldn’t agree more. Leaving threads open by default greatly improves forum quality.
While it seems my first post was closed manually, rather than automatically, it happened just minutes after an answer was marked as being the solution. I have a hard time understanding why closing the possibility to add information to any topic can be desirable. Why one would want it to be mandated to create new threads in order to follow up on existing topics is absolutely beyond me.
The signal I got from having my thread speedily and forcefully closed, is that while I might be welcome as a visitor, the culture around here is not to invite anyone to stay around. I hope and believe that that’s not actually the intended message, but that is how I perceived it.
Sorry if this can be considered a deviation from the topic. From my perspective it is relevant and important enough to be mentioned in this context. I definitely do not expect any replies, causing the entire thread to shift focus.