winjim
Smash the cistern
Whatever the etiquette might be for the rest of the forum, Personal Matters is Personal Matters and you don't go in there stomping all over someone else's thread, it's disrespectful. If there's a problem it can be raised quietly with the moderating team without causing a fuss.
I think in that particular sub-forum it's perfectly legitimate for the OP to claim ownership of the thread and request that it be locked. Elsewhere? Meh, whatever. If I start a thread and somebody drags it off course or doesn't read the OP properly or answer the question or whatever, I'll generally respond by taking the piss a bit and being sarcastic about it. It can be a bit frustrating if there's a particular thing you want to talk about of question you want to ask but that's the nature of conversation. If you want people to stick to a topic you started, maybe it's up to you to make it more interesting.
I think in that particular sub-forum it's perfectly legitimate for the OP to claim ownership of the thread and request that it be locked. Elsewhere? Meh, whatever. If I start a thread and somebody drags it off course or doesn't read the OP properly or answer the question or whatever, I'll generally respond by taking the piss a bit and being sarcastic about it. It can be a bit frustrating if there's a particular thing you want to talk about of question you want to ask but that's the nature of conversation. If you want people to stick to a topic you started, maybe it's up to you to make it more interesting.