Why do people show up on threads just to say there has already been a thread on this....

Anyone else get really annoyed when the self-righteous among us decided to enter a thread just to announce that a previous thread on the subject has been posted. Really? Other than breaking news is there even a handful of specific topics that have never been discussed? Just like in life, everything is cyclical. Not all 190,000 members are historians on the complete works of past posters. Get over yourself. Do you feel empowered because of the ability to archive search. Seriously.

That's all I have. Just a bit frustrated...thanks.

It's usually because they or someone they like/respect made one already and they want all of the attention to go to that person. I agree though, it's really annoying having a good thread going and then all of the sudden some dude feels it's his duty to inform us about another thread.

I don't wanna rain on the parade but there's another thread like this floating around

I agree with the above poster.

Thread already here.


Anyway I have to admit I do this sometimes but I’m not trying to be annoying or anything I'm just trying to be helpful and letting them know that someone already made a thread on the exact same topic shortly before.

I don’t see the point of doing it if it’s an older thread obviously so I won’t do it for them, but if it’s a thread that’s been made on the same day then I would..

And I'm grateful if someone does it to me as well as I more often than not alert a MOD about it as the poster who posted first should get the credit for it.

So not trying to be annoying, just helpful.

There was already a thread about this.
www.belowtopsecret.com...

i agree thoug it is annoying, i really hate it when 5 people all come in saying there is an existing thread and they all have links to different threads.

It's fine, lets us mods know...if there is already an ongoing thread, same topic, and same page even...but if the "same topic" was weeks ago, etc., and not on the same current page, I'm not going to close the new one down.

Just be polite about it, is all...

You can see its perhaps to avoid conscious plaigarism being legitimised, Most of us try and read as much as we can but hey life is short,and we cannot read every single thing on ATS, we would be exhausted before we even thought of typing, if you dont like anything just keep on moving.l

Probably because they are post count *hores, like I am at the moment because I need 20 posts.

There are other reasons...

1. If someone posted it first, then that person should see their thread get the traffic (providing it wasn't ages ago, etc.)

2. The previous thread may have some excellent discussion/information, that may be of interest to the new thread poster....(for example, a photo may already have been shown to be a hoax, etc.)

3. Avoids splitting up the discussion, keeping it all in one place....

I'd think these reasons outweigh the minor annoyance factor... I've certainly had it done to me before too, and I've been thankful, rather than annoyed, as often, the previous thread has some great ongoing discussion, and information.

Not all 190,000 members

Well,if you believe that number is factual,I have a book Obama actually wrote himself!

That maybe the number of people who did register since the sites conception but there is probably less than a hundred members worldwide actually posting on here.

A large number of members bailed out here a long time ago when it got to commercial.

The way this site is set up with members now worldwide threads get pushed off the recent posts page fairly quickly and nobody looks past the first page.

It is about quantity not quality.

Even that "million" visitors in one month thread is misleading.

The average visit was about 6 minuets which is just long enough to realize that Google had sent them there and it was not where they wanted to be.

It is inevitable that there would be duplicate posts.

We live in the "me" generation now.

Particularly on ATS.

I don't normally respond to duplicate threads but I do read the posts,just to see what the new take on the subject is.



[edit on 4-5-2010 by Oneolddude]