Okay, I'm speaking generally, not about any specific threads, but about locking threads on the building department board especially.
I think that topics should remain open indefinitely because even if the poll has been passed, and it seems as though everyone has had their say, there may be someone who is on holiday and so would like to add their view at a later date, or someone may have another brilliant idea related to the subject of the thread. Locking threads can mean that there's a break down in communication and people don't feel they've been heard properly; it could also mean that people don't feel that they've had a chance to discuss things properly.
Now, in the case of the SS and Scho-op threads, I feel that they both should be left open because though a lot of us want to combine them both in ideas and in buildings, there is the possibility that they will remain separate, and because of that, they need their own thread. At the moment, the main discussion is going on in the SS thread - that is fine, but a thread doesn't have to be locked the minute someone stops posting in it. As we stand, they're too separate things, and therefore the threads should reflect that.
Trix
And I agree with Daisy on the games issue. The games forum is essentially a specialised sort of chat, and so if it stops becoming a game and ends up with people talking, it really doesn't matter. As far as the recreational threads are concerned, I think that they should just stay where they were created. It confuses people otherwise.