These closings tend to "coincidentally" closely follow flurries of administrative activity, vanishing posts/threads, and/or bannings of long-time posters known for level-headed postings. When FTers who don't normally pay attention to FT politics start seeing "banned" (oops, I mean "suspended" ) under the handles of multiple respected posters who have been around for years, readers naturally begin to wonder if it might be that these long-time members have a better understanding of the TOS than a few of the authorities instead of the other way around. They turn to places like ORP and start asking questions, which is of course itself a violation, which then spirals into more and more such posts. (Check out your favorite forums and see how many 5-year+ members, original members, Flyertalk Evangelists, and/or members held in such esteem that they are mentioned by name in the glossary, are banned. )

Such questioning and dissent naturally has to be censored--uh, I mean squelched--quickly, and forum closings seem to follow. Go read ORP from 10/04 for a nice case study. I think that's also when OMNI went on vacation.