Who else would like to see the death of multiple duplicate threads?

Hey ATS!

We've all done it, done the search, entered a few key words....nothing. So we do the thread, and for some reason, I don't know, the time we posted, the title. For whatever reason it gets 2 replies and a star.

The next day, once your thread has disappeared into obscurity, a thread appears with a slightly different name, in a different forum, that gets 100 replies and 100 flags.

I say ENOUGH! This policy of allowing the same news or story to be repeated in different Forums is stupid! It is unfair to the original poster who did just as much work as the unintentional copycat! And leads to hundreds upon hundreds of repeat threads and wasted time!

How can we change this policy?? Please don't say that the thread gets voluntarily closed down, which it never does. Please don't say as soon as a mod sees it they close it down- as they nearly always allow them to be in different forums!

I believe its original purpose was just, to allow the same story to be used in different ways, for different conspiracies, but to allow NEW reports to be allowed in different forums is both unfair and pointless.

I say the poster of the original thread should be allowed to post:

and contact a mod to close it, EVEN if it is in different forum!

I appreciate the job the mods do, and I know they are busy, I really don't want to make the job harder for them, so it it possible to make this self policing (just an idea to ease the work load!?).

C'mon higher ups! SORT it out...please! PLEASE stop the madness!

All the best, Kiwifoot!

Oh wow man.
I think I read about this in another thread.

Yep, but it was in another forum so it's OK!

Stupid rule!

Could the op edit the thread title into something simple like "please delete me".

Would this be a feasible way to do what you're saying?

I agree. It's stupid.
Yet it continues day after day.

Like some people using the word "loose" instead of lose.
Or calling someone a "looser" instead of a loser.
Only proves a lack of formal education, willfully ignoring the search
feature, and the proper use of a dictionary of course.
Pretty sad when its your native language!

I don't think people even care about any of it, honestly.
It's all about the 'more' and the 'now'.

Please close and redirect.

Yup, I did that with one of my threads once, the trouble is, not everyone is that honest, or online at the time the situation becomes apparent!

But that wold go some ways to addressing it Seiko!

I personally don't have an issue with threads that address the same subject, so long as each are active. But I do understand from the point of a website owner what that means in terms of bandwidth and space taken on a main page.

My only suggestion would be rather than kill one in favor of the other, to find a way to merge the two into one.

haha, I was aware of that one, but I thought I'd try and appeal to the Higher ups, mods and members to really try and put paid to this policy.

I feel it's my duty, I'll do one of these threads once a month!

Like in the Shawshank Redemption!

reply to post by kiwifoot

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Oh, I see. To get a resolution on what you see as an issue surrounding duplicate threads, you create.... (wait for it)....

A DUPLICATE THREAD!

The irony is just too subtle.

You realize of course you could've added to the existing thread, thus bumping the topic that way, right?

Everyone hates duplicate threads, until they feel compelled to create one.

I don't see a problem with two threads dealing with a similar issue in different forums, as long as the discussion is different/geared in the direction of those particular forums. For example, off the top of my head, if, let's say, Israel started building a new Temple. I wouldn't have a problem having two threads about it, one in the Conspiracy in Religion forum and another in the NWO Forum, as long as one is geared towards any religious conspiracy and the other is geared toward the NWO take on it. Know what I mean?

I do agree though that if there are two threads that are basically mirror copies of one another, just with different participants, one should be closed. What's even worse, in my opinion, when there are two threads discussing the same thing and one goes into obscurity, is when they're both really active. For example, I remember a few weeks back, when that tsunami in America Samoa happened, there were like three threads following it. I was going nuts trying to follow them all just so I didn't lose something!

Is there anyway that duplicate threads can be merged or something?

Hm, complaining about an issue, and asking outright for an issue to be solved are two completely different things entirely!

The difference between asking a board question in this duplicate thread, and someone doing research, finding links, spending time analysing a storyon the main boards - should be patently obvious.

Edit for me to stop being a tool, apologies




[edit on 7-11-2009 by kiwifoot]

reply to post by kiwifoot

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So you're saying the issues are situational and what may appear to be duplicate threads on the surface to a member such as, oh I don't know... YOU, may in fact have valid reasons given a particular situation. Is that what you mean?

And maybe by alerting on threads you believe to be duplicate, the situation could be resolved quickly and easily, by allowing the site staff to make a call in each individual situation.

Or, you could start another thread about it.

i thought it was a letter a week?

and besides that took years.

do two a week. that should take less time.

The unofficial policy is actually that we'll allow a thread in the Breaking Alternative News forum (if it is Breaking News) and a "duplicate" in its' topical forum elsewhere on ATS.

All other duplicate threads, regardless of other forums, get closed and re-directed to the original thread in the topical forum.

We do the best we can however with a discussion forum this size and the varying schedules of our Moderating Staff, duplicate threads do indeed fall through the cracks.

In this instance, if you see a duplicate thread, please alert us and we can go forward as appropriate.

Thanks!

reply to post by kiwifoot

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Well I for one don't want to see anything die, even if it's just duplicate threads.

But there may be some others, maybe many others, who want to see, those threads, die - who knows?

Peace!

NO, I'm saying that me asking them to change their policy, THREE months after someone asked why DTs are tolerated is markedly different!

Anyway, I'd prefer to turn my attention to actually tackling this issue, rather than waste time arguing with you over whether this duplicate thread (of sorts but I contest not exactly as I'm asking them to change the policy!) or not!

Thanks s mate!

Andy - "They can't ignore me for ever!"


Warden - "They can and they will!"



[edit on 7-11-2009 by kiwifoot]

reply to post by MrDesolate

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Not everyone feels compelled to create one though. Just a sign of something lacking really.

One thread in a "breaking" forum and one in a "non-breaking" forums is usually allowed to coexist. Before submitting a thread, the poster can check if it's been posted already by checking the "firehose" (links below)


news firehose ("breaking" forums)

ats firehose ("non-breaking" forums)


If you spot a duplicate thread, the best thing to do is to hit the alert button on that post (to alert the mods) and tell us it's a duplicate thread. It's even better if you include a link to the original thread in the alert.