Why lock a perfectly innocuous post about a broken PowerBook hinge?

Question

Very odd.
Some chap below said that his hinge had broken, that Applecare told him to take it to an Applestore to get them to determine if it was warrantable, but set his expectation that he would spend $500 repairing a 2 year old machine that he did not break.
He asks for advice, mentions that he's furious and the topic is locked.
Seemed like a perfectly reasonable thread to me. Just wondering what terms justify locking that particular thread and stopping that poor chap getting advice from the Apple community.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

Thanks for the response. I Can't say I agree with your points at all.
a) Forum for technical problems only?
This is what Apple say on the subject;
"Apple Discussions is a user-to-user support forum that enables anyone who uses Apple products to meet and discuss various topics, resolve issues, ask questions, get tips and advice, and more".
If what you say about technical problems is written somewhere, perhaps you could point us to it.
Seem to me that he had a mechanical problem, completely legitimate.
He asked for advice on how to deal with the issue he had. He got advice. Nobody told him what to do - when I make a post, usually, the post allows me to decide if I want to mark it answered. His was locked. Doesn't that strike you as a bit strange?
His original question expressed a bit of frustration at being told he'd likely have to pay $500 for what he considered a hardware failure or design fault. He wasn't rude, profane or unreasonable in what he originally wrote, otherwise he wouldn't have got replies.
His follow up to the advice he got was to tell us what he was going to do and to promise to keep us posted.
"Odd thing was I had just used it right before it broke. I simply Opened the screen in the upward direction and heard something almost like a crack. Didn't think much of the noise and when I opened it to its upright position it had broke. That simple. No force whatsoever. Thats the most upsetting part. It's simply rediculous. If this has happened and Apple has received repairs specifically this type, the lightbulb should go on and say, "Hey we have a bunch of people with the SAME EXACT PROBLEM going on here. What can we do to rectify the problem and fix this." It's a simple recall just like what they did with the batteries. Enough people complain and something gets taken care of. Anyway, thanks for the luck. I am taking it to the Apple store this weekend to have them look at it. I will post my experiance as soon as I can. Hope this helps people who have had the SAME problem as me. "
Doesn't sound like whining, sounds like he was going to do something about it and like he wants a resolution to a legitimate complaint in an expensive 2 year old machine. A pretty reasonable response to the advice he got, I thought. He actually went to the trouble of explaining how he experienced the fault as he said "to help people who have had the SAME problem as me"
There are loads of posts here which have been going for months and months asking questions and debating issues - e.g. the Powerbook lines issue for example.
I'm just struggling to understand why someone has locked this particular post. I don't agree with your assertion that the poster is merely whining or has had his problem solved.
So for the moment I am still wondering;
Why lock a perfectly innocuous post about a broken PowerBook hinge?