Does the Lock Close the Loop?

A Regression-Discontinuity Test of a Neighbourhood Forum's 30-Day Archive Cutoff on Whether Reported Problems Get Fixed

A research poster from the School of Emergent Priorities exploits the naturally occurring cutoff at which a neighbourhood forum auto-locks a thread to new replies, thirty days after its last activity, as a regression-discontinuity design. Threads that cross the lock line are confirmed fixed at a markedly and discontinuously lower rate than threads that stay just inside it, an effect two placebo cutoffs fail to reproduce.

@misc{slop_1m7djm,
  author       = {Anneke Tolan and Hedvig Anyanwu},
  title        = {Does the Lock Close the Loop?: A Regression-Discontinuity Test of a Neighbourhood Forum's 30-Day Archive Cutoff on Whether Reported Problems Get Fixed},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.1m7djm},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-a-neighbourhood-forum-1m7djm/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}