Usually when a club comes up, it has some abstract idea of what it is going to be about.
So stuff like and 'Stuffed toys are dumb' ?
Then the "Can I join?" begins, and the thread gets a nice lock on it.
So club threads get locked not by their users, but by the people who want to join.
Another really good reason is that a thread per dif should lead to discussion, which is why the purpose of "We are going to make contests and talk about *insert random stuff here" is just not enough.
I like Forums that discuss, and not simply point out things. Those are usually stickies or trash.
If your club has a point, is active, lasts for more than 2 weeks, and does encourage spam and flaming from other users, then it is fine.
I hope you meant to write does not. Otherwise your post is contradictory to what all the others have been saying.