Jess, yes it is very sad when ANY member chooses to leave for whatever reason. I personally get very sad when I see that happen.
Threads get locked for many different reasons, some which you may or may not understand. Iit is never my desire to lock a thread. But when members are name calling and making accusations against other members and the mood of the forum turns to more negative issues which don't pertain to the reason most of us are here (birds), then we are forced to shut it down before further harm is done. When that isn't done before things get out of hand, then members get mad, hurt and upset and decide to leave. There are many forums on the internet that aren't monitored or let members bash each other, foul language is allowed, etc. We at Greyforums prefer to run this forum in a different manner. Some will like it here and some will not. Over the years as admin, I have found that no matter how hard I try, I can't please everyone, so I do the best I can.
There is much that goes on behind the scenes in trying to handle much of the things that hurt others who decide to leave, sometimes my hard work pays off and sometimes it doesn't. Members choose to leave because they aren't used to the way forums are, they have a hard time not taking posts, comments, etc personally and they decide to sadly leave.....
I hope that gives you a glimpse into why things are the way they are around here. But as for not allowing someone to voice their opinion, that never was and never is the case.
As I CONTINUALLY state in many messages when things get out of hand and in many pm's when a member feels hurt and contacts me. EVERY member is important, EVERY member has something special to add to this forum, EVERY member is valued, EVERY member is cared about, EVERY member is free to voice their opinion (without hurting another) and EVERY member deserves to be treated with respect. I try very my best to see that those things happen.