I keep wanting a feature in this department, and I am sure it was discussed elsewhere.
“Close discussion for N minutes (after which it is reopened)” … basically when tempers get a bit high, put a topic on hold for a bit so people can calm down and come back to the topic later after they take a fresh breath.
Also maybe the more sophisticated “Boot person out of topic for N minutes” that is less atomic.
Yeah, StackExchange has a feature like that, and it’s quite useful at taking some of the steam out of things when they get wild.
That is just timed open, we already have timed close. So not far in spirit.
edit: I have heard the request before and I think it’s a fine idea, but will probably need to wait for 1.6 or later. I’ll add it to long term todos in releases.
A slight tangent from @sam’ idea, but inline with the original request - now that blocking can be done by a staff member, could blocking have an option (emphasis on option) for an automatic unblock, in increments as small as 1 hour. That lets you give a user a cool down, instead of a topic.