Duplicate threads - how could we discourage them?

**Zunige** · #1 (**permalink**) 10-18-2007, 09:28 AM

I don’t know about others, but I would like to see a way to discourage people from purposely creating duplicate threads. Case in point, today someone advertised his ebay auctions in a thread in the “Parts For Sale” forum, and proceeded to duplicate his very same ebay auction thread in one of the technical forums. I don’t have any issue with the thread in the “Parts For Sale” forum, but I do find that the duplicate thread in the technical forum is inconsiderate and selfish. I don’t understand why people feel they have the right to ignore the purpose of a forum, or why they feel that their personal sales trump the expressed use (as stated by the moderators) of the forums on this BB.

We all pay a price for allowing “for sale” items in a technical forum, as this convolutes future searches. Often, when I’m trying to help a new member, I’ll try to locate a relevant thread in order to point the new member in the right direction. (I figure I can probably narrow down the search quicker, particularly with the advanced search, since I may remember some key elements that a new member would be unaware of…) Furthermore, as the number of threads and posts increase, the search function has to sift through more and more data, and we have to sift through more and more results. It would be helpful, if these “for sale” items were not there in the first place.

When speaking about duplicate threads and items for sale, I’m not referring to someone who is offering a new product and announces it to the BB in one of the relevant technical forums, as well as in the For Sale forum. For example, if someone developed a turbo kit for a 2L engine, I would have no problem with a duplicate thread. I would expect that the one in the technical forum would be very valuable with questions and answers, while the one in the “For Sale” forum would be used for information about the acquisition of the product.

Anyway, getting back to how to discourage this… Would it be helpful if, as people join the BB, they are simply told NOT to create duplicate threads? And, they are told to use the bar that appears in every BB page, where they can click on “New Posts” or “Quick Links/Today’s Posts”? (There really is nothing to learn here, these just require a click.) These functions allow anyone to see all new threads and posts. They even work by user-id, so one is looking at what is new since one’s last visit. I mean, it couldn’t be any easier than that, but how could we get people to follow this?

Best regards,

**lowmileage** · #2 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunige

Anyway, getting back to how to discourage this… ....... I mean, it couldn’t be any easier than that, but how could we get people to follow this?

6alfas · #3 (**permalink**) 11-05-2007, 08:54 PM

Instead of discouraging people from creating duplicate threads, what if the administrator, or other certain parties (aka, the dreaded thread police), had the ability to drag and drop a duplicate thread into the first thread that was started on a given subject?

If this is a duplicate idea, please don't flag me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a late night thought.

Chuck
59 Sprint

**technobob** · #4 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 11:50 AM

I would like to see an option, on an originating thread (thread #1), to delete the thread. If there already is such a thing, I missed it recently when I started a thread and then realized it was not in the most appropriate forum and duplicated it on another forum. I emailed customer service about that and have yet to receive a reply.

Perhaps that's what happened in the case you cite, perhaps not, I don't know.