Merging identical and/or very similar threads ?

[Marmot]

I'm just wondering if there's a process in place (at the admin level, of course) to merge identical or near identical threads ?

Before I create a thread myself, I always try to search around to see if said topic is already going on somewhere, but I'm finding that some people either don't do this or they can't find any similar threads so they end up creating a duplicate.

Case in point: Do a search for "weighted blankets" and you'll find 6 or 7 threads all talking about the same thing.

Or these two which I encountered recently (again, identical):

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/do-you-like-to-repeat-music.14110/#post-278701
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/playing-same-song-50-times-in-a-row.12127/

As this site grows this problem could get bigger and bigger so I'm wondering if this has been thought of yet and / or is it even a concern.

-It's kind of confusing for me sometimes

 

[ancusmitis]

I'm definitely on board with this. One often finds links to older threads in new threads, especially when they are about a general issue that most people with ASD probably have, and they are almost always titled something like, "Does anyone else on here stim??????" Or maybe "Does anyone else have trouble with small talk?"

(And the answer, of course, is "No, absolutely not." I mean, what did you think this was, an aspergers forum? )

I've also seen at least one person copy and paste the exact same post into four separate threads that are all about the same thing, this time dealing with avatars and usernames:

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/the-story-about-your-user-name-and-or-avatar.8416/#post-279074
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-username.6528/#post-279082
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-avatar.6414/page-2#post-279081
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-avatar.553/page-6#post-279079

 

[Marmot]

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/the-story-about-your-user-name-and-or-avatar.8416/#post-279074[/URL]
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-username.6528/#post-279082
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-avatar.6414/page-2#post-279081
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-avatar.553/page-6#post-279079

And you can see in those 4 duplicate posts that the user cut & pasted them all at the same time so they obviously had all four identical threads open in parallel.


As in this post:
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/do-you-like-to-repeat-music.14110/#post-278701

I attempted to hyperlink and defer the newer thread to it's identical (and older / first started) thread, but as you can see people blew right past it and kept on posting. One solution would be for an admin to add such a hyperlink, pointing to the more senior thread and then lock the thread down so that people can't keep it going. Although I would suggest coming up with a more subtle term than "locked thread" in a case like this as a locked thread typically connotes something negative or done-wrong which is not what I'm suggesting here. It should be assumed that when this happens it was an honest mistake......

Can anyone come up with a cleaner solution ?

 

[wyverary]

It used to be that we could merge threads, but that feature appears to have been lost upon our migration to different forum software which took place a year or so back.

 

[Ste11aeres]

I'm definitely on board with this. One often finds links to older threads in new threads, especially when they are about a general issue that most people with ASD probably have, and they are almost always titled something like, "Does anyone else on here stim??????" Or maybe "Does anyone else have trouble with small talk?"

(And the answer, of course, is "No, absolutely not." I mean, what did you think this was, an aspergers forum? )

I've also seen at least one person copy and paste the exact same post into four separate threads that are all about the same thing, this time dealing with avatars and usernames:

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/the-story-about-your-user-name-and-or-avatar.8416/#post-279074
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-username.6528/#post-279082
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-avatar.6414/page-2#post-279081
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/discuss-your-avatar.553/page-6#post-279079

**** I never realized until now that those last three were not all the same thread.

 

[Beverly]

Yeah need to merge and/or archive the basically duplicate threads, it would be easier to find stuff using search if they were at least achieved and, search did not look there nor could anyone reply to archived threads but, the section could be here for reading if anyone wanted to read them. Also a good place for threads that have been dead for over say 24 months or so, just to make the boards a bit neater and search a bit faster and, more efficient.

 

[Marmot]

Verbatim

https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/do-you-talk-to-yourself.2119/
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/do-you-talk-to-yourself.15097/

If I'm chasing the invisible dragon here, you have permission to dart me with the tranquilizer and tell me to stop...........

 

[King_Oni]

It used to be that we could merge threads, but that feature appears to have been lost upon our migration to different forum software which took place a year or so back.

No it hasn't been lost, but it's a bit more tricky to do so.

I agree that it makes it all a bit messier if we have multiple threads and whenever I run into any threads that are duplicates, I'll merge them if possible (some would become such a mess if merged because of timestamps).

While it might been a bit lacking from staff on one side, I suppose there's a thing to be said about people not using the search bar properly either. Either people want a thread to be about themselves and their view explicitly, or it's day 1 for them on the internet... (in most cases).

I'll post a short how to in the staff section

And you can see in those 4 duplicate posts that the user cut & pasted them all at the same time so they obviously had all four identical threads open in parallel.


As in this post:
https://www.aspiescentral.com/threads/do-you-like-to-repeat-music.14110/#post-278701

I attempted to hyperlink and defer the newer thread to it's identical (and older / first started) thread, but as you can see people blew right past it and kept on posting. One solution would be for an admin to add such a hyperlink, pointing to the more senior thread and then lock the thread down so that people can't keep it going. Although I would suggest coming up with a more subtle term than "locked thread" in a case like this as a locked thread typically connotes something negative or done-wrong which is not what I'm suggesting here. It should be assumed that when this happens it was an honest mistake......

Can anyone come up with a cleaner solution ?

If we merge threads, we can leave a redirect to the new thread for X days/weeks/months after which it'll be a full merge.

I just merged all the threads about "what's the story behind your username" and so on together

 

[Nightingale121]

Is thread merging still done?
Should users report duplicate threads here or inform an admin?

I just found two very similar threads while searching for something in the forum:
post something that made you happy today.
What made you HAPPY today?

 

[tree]

@Nightingale121
I personally would appreciate duplicate threads being Reported.
Saves me having to search my own memory......
As in, hmmm, seems like I remember a similar thread.

Yes, threads can be merged.