I absolutely don't want to close threads when they are solved.

I agree, as closing a thread after it's been solved never made any sense to me. Closing threads should be reserved for when trouble makers are in a thread, not for when people are getting helped. Just because the original poster might have found their answer, doesn't mean that other people can't still learn from the thread.

We just want the option to mark the thread as 'solved' and hopefully, some kind sole with 3.6.x can help us with this issue...

Unless you think of each thread as a support ticket, in which case it would be private anyway. If other people can still read it, then they can still learn from it. If they have their own problems, they should create their own thread.

Anyway, it's just one solution, I'm sure there are better ones.

where in the world is this hack/addon?

I like it! - Can you share the process you used to accomplish this?

Sure. If I have some spare time tonight I'll try to get all the template edits/plugins together and share it here. If not, within a few days I guess...

Awesome thanks! - This is very exciting...
How do the open threads remain on top of the forum section?

One of the plugins will alter it so when sorting by last post date (default), it will change the sort order from sticky, last post date; to sticky, open/closed, last post date.

Thats awesome!
This plugin actually looks better than the old [RESOLVED] hack! - Can't wait to install it. Our community has been asking for an upfront method of sorting resolved support issues for sometime now. This is great! thanks for sharing this... .thumbsup.

Havn't forgotten... been real busy. :( I'll package it up tonight.