The best bed occupancy sensor is really cool. Now it’s not allowed to discuss it in that thread? Why? If the original poster doesn’t want to support it, say so, and by why lock the thread? For an open source community, this comes off really bad. Especially because the thread was allegedly originally deleted! Removing valuable information from the community to push a private product is unacceptable.
What the heck???
This is not a WTH topic.
The Thread was locked by the OP, who also happens to be a moderator here.
Chill. It is no longer deleted. If you feel that you have important insights to provide, you are free to create your own thread.
tom_l is the topic’s author and a forum moderator. The reason he locked his own topic is provided in the topic’s first and last post.
A topic’s author’s is free to recommend whatever product, or project, they feel is best.
A topic’s author is free to make these choices.
What they said. Moved to social. 
I have to some level agree with this.
“Closing a topic” is not possible for regular users, only for “mods”. It could be left open for “other options” or solutions, being it a findable topic.
If I were to have a “topic” I could not close it myself do I? That is a little bit weird… a mod should be adressed then?
It feels like mods are now “judge, jury, executioner”.
Doesn’t it bother you at all that it originally was deleted?
Not at all.
Ignore for a minute that the OP happened to be a mod. He created the thread and he is well within his rights to decide to delete it. Hell, he even explained that he was no longer interested in providing support to his own thread because he discovered something better in the 500+ posts since he originally created the topic.
There are frequent instances where topics are deleted by their own authors, despite them not being a mod. This is usually allowed when the thread has no replies* and the original author changed their mind - it’s not the first time I’ve seen a locked blank thread which says [Topic deleted by author].
Either way, the thread is no longer deleted and is available for everyone to browse through, grab some ideas, and hopefully be inspired to create their own DIY version of a product which has been overwhelmingly praised and costs roughly the same as a DIY project.
*The no replies part might be a condition for allowing non-mods to delete their own thread. Threads with replies might require pinging a mod to have them deleted - I’m not sure. Either way, the point is moot since the thread is visible as at time of writing.
Anyone can delete any of our own posts.
If we have not been here long enough and it’s an old post, a mod can do it for you.
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Yes, but as with all judges, do listen to alternatives.
The author of the topic in question is a moderator.
For a non-moderator, they can ask a moderator to close their topic.
This WTH is a mistaken attempt to find nefarious behavior where none actually exists.
Why does it bother you that the topic’s author originally chose to delete their own topic?
It was their choice and, afterwards, they chose to simply lock it. As the topic’s author, and a moderator, they have that ability.
I think you are misinterpreting how online discussion and forum communities add value. It is by having many people contributing and the discussion being open for everyone to read and contribute. In this thread there were many, many people providing valuable feedback, it was not only tom.
Furthremore, value is generated even by the most inexperienced users with the most basic questions. These are the questions that most people ask themselves when they first stumble upon the topic.
Sure, tom wants to stop supporting the product that he initiated, this is fine, but he should not discard all other contributions to the thread, it shouldn’t be his decision to make.
I am not sure what are the community rules here, but if it allows that the topic author may remove entire threads with 100s of replies and years of activity, not only by him, but by others, it is definitely something that needs to be checked by the mod team here.
He is the topic’s owner so can decide whether or not the topic should be locked.
FWIW, there’s a feature in Discourse that can be configured to automatically lock a topic after a period of inactivity. In other words, it’s not unusual for a topic to be locked (for example, the Node-Red community forum employs it).
The Home Assistant community forum hasn’t enabled this feature but allows a topic’s author to request locking their topic.
I can argue against that too, but locking is much milder then deleting. The thread was deleted, which I think is the main issue here. If tom or mod member can acknowledge that this was a mistake, all is good, mistakes happen. But if they stand by the rule that topic author has full authority over posts in topics made by others, posts that do not break the rules in any way, then this is scary and I can imagine many scenarios where such powers can be abused.
You’re free to argue whatever you want but the fact remains a topic’s author can request to lock their topic.
If the auto-lock feature was enabled, it would have been automatically locked after a period of inactivity. It’s hardly a “scary” feature.
The topic’s author has no authority over other people’s posts (other than flag them for review by moderators) when the topic is unlocked.
When the topic is locked, no one can post in it but you’re still free to start a new topic. In other words, the topic’s author has no control over what other may wish to say elsewhere.
This does not really add something does it? It’s known info and irrelevant (sorry).
The gist I get from this discussion and my personal judgment is that closing these kind of topics (by mods) if they did or did not create them, closes the entire discussion.
What’s the alternative? Start a new topic by a non-mod that can’t be closed (other than by a mod)?
The thing is that any future valuable info regarding alternative bed occupancy sensors are now posted “somewhere else”.
Sorry, but this also does not add any additonal arguments or information. All known…
Fact stays that such a popular topic is now closed and additional info can only be placed elsewhere.
Only because by coincidence it was initially created by a mod…
Edit: btw. I have nothing against this mod 
Edit2:
WTH it is now suddenly closed…
I would have “judged” differently in this case.
It is important to let the greater collective wisdom prevail over individual interests.
Correct, because the topic’s author has decided that their approach to a bed sensor (FSR) is no longer the best solution.
If anyone else feels differently about the use of FSRs, they’re free to continue the discussion in a new topic. Simple as that (and they can link to the original topic if they wish).
Anyone is allowed to lock anything for whatever reason they want, not just moderators. To have a post that you created locked, you flag the post and ask for it to be locked.
This has been done on multiple occasions when people no longer want to support their projects.
Here’s a recent post that was locked at the request of the topic owner.
Closing this as it’s just going to lead to arguments.