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suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #243752] Fri, 08 June 2007 15:00 Go to next message
Barbara Boehmer
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Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
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I seem to recall one or more moderators requesting guidelines and/or discussion of how to handle various things. I have noticed duplicate posts being handled in various ways and thought I would offer my advice on the issue of duplicate posts and see what the rest of you think.

As I see it, the object is to clear the clutter and prevent future clutter, by notifying the poster either by pm or within the thread not to do that. When I notice duplicate posts, I usually click on the user and check for their other messages to see if there are triplicate and quadruplicate posts and so on. For duplicate posts that have not been responded to, I delete them, using the method that includes the option to notify the original poster with a copy and an explanation. If the posts have already been responded to, then I merge them, changing the title to indicate the number of merged threads. The poster can then be notified by pm or within the thread if a responder has not already done so.

I see that some newer moderators are locking the duplicate threads, rather than deleting or merging. This does not clear the clutter and people browsing the forums end up still wasting time clicking on duplicate threads and reading them. I am glad to see the newer moderators eagerly contributing and locking is better than nothing, but I would prefer deleting or merging. What do the rest of you think?

Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #243779 is a reply to message #243752] Sat, 09 June 2007 00:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Frank
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Registered: March 2000
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I totally agree. I use the same policy: duplicates without any responses (other than the mentioning that it's a duplicate) are deleted, sending a pm to the OP asking not to cross/multipost.
Duplicates with answers are moved (if necessary) and merged.

[Updated on: Sat, 09 June 2007 00:14]

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Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #243829 is a reply to message #243752] Sat, 09 June 2007 09:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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It seems a good policy.
I will follow it.

Regards
Michel
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #243873 is a reply to message #243829] Sun, 10 June 2007 10:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Frank Naude
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Registered: April 1998
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Good point since there are more readers than posters using the forum. Thanks Barbara!

Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #247447 is a reply to message #243752] Mon, 25 June 2007 22:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Arju
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I can add one thing. There are so many threads. I noticed there are so many no answered threads. In every section it should be folder like 'bulk'/'no answered post' I think no answered posts should be kept in bulk folder because whenever a new user(like me) want to browse other posts it is harassment to me to browse so many pages one after another.
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #247454 is a reply to message #247447] Mon, 25 June 2007 23:22 Go to previous messageGo to next message
djmartin
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Perhaps we should try to answer every question. In the Forms forum I have made sure that all (but 2 questions) have been answered or followed up since March 2005 (except for a few spam messages).

David

[Updated on: Mon, 25 June 2007 23:26]

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Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #247455 is a reply to message #243752] Mon, 25 June 2007 23:25 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Arju
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Martin can you just go through Replication Section? You will feel that this is needed.
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #247458 is a reply to message #247455] Mon, 25 June 2007 23:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
djmartin
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Unfortunately I am not a 'replication' person. I have years of Forms experience and that's why I 'hog' that forum. The same with PL/SQL, etc, I have the experience but there are just SO many questions and I have only so many hours in a week to spend anwering questions.

David
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #259881 is a reply to message #243829] Thu, 16 August 2007 14:12 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
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Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
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Michel Cadot,

Please stop locking duplicate posts and merge them instead as previously agreed upon in this thread. It just happened again that while I was moving one cross-post from the sql forum to the newbies forum and merging the two duplicates that had both been replied to and reported by a user, you were locking one of them, resulting in one merged and locked post in the newbies forum.
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #259884 is a reply to message #259881] Thu, 16 August 2007 14:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Barbara,

It happened to me the same thing another time.

The problem is that there is no exclusive access to a topic.
A couple of weeks ago, one creates a duplicate topic, 2 of us followed your advice:
Quote:
For duplicate posts that have not been responded to, I delete them

And both topics were deleted because any of them had an answer.
So I choose to first lock the topic and after a while delete them.

If you have another option to prevent from all of these problems tell us.

Regards
Michel

Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #259920 is a reply to message #259884] Thu, 16 August 2007 18:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Barbara Boehmer
Messages: 9077
Registered: November 2002
Location: California, USA
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Ah, now I understand. Perhaps we should merge first, leaving the oldest duplicate at the top of the thread, then optionally delete any duplicates within the thread that have not been responded to? That should avoid both the double deletion problem and the merged and locked problem.
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #259973 is a reply to message #259920] Fri, 17 August 2007 01:15 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Maaher
Messages: 7065
Registered: December 2001
Senior Member
Ok, just to be clear:
- merge duplicates, leaving the oldest on top.
- delete unresponded duplicates AFTER THE MERGE.

Idea
Here's a thought: when a moderator is about to move/merge/delete/lock, can't he report the message? That way other moderators can see what he/she is up to. Afterwards the report can be deleted. That should avoid mistakes, doesn't it?

MHE

[Updated on: Fri, 17 August 2007 01:15]

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Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #259980 is a reply to message #259973] Fri, 17 August 2007 01:31 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Quote:
when a moderator is about to move/merge/delete/lock, can't he report the message?

I don't think this will prevent from errors.
Just a few thoughts.
You have to refresh the page to see there is a reported message, and during the "move/delete/lock/..." process you don't refresh, you see the refreshed page after.
On the opposite, if you refresh before executing your action and someone else did it then you see the result and don't execute your action.
The question is: what is faster reporting or doing the action? I only see "merge" that is slighty slower.
The main problem is when you want to execute complex action like "move + merge".
In addition, we will have then many reported messages, the time you read all these messages to see nobody reported the same you want to report, maybe someone reported the message.
...

Regards
Michel
Re: suggestion to fellow moderators re: duplicate posts [message #260744 is a reply to message #259980] Mon, 20 August 2007 18:22 Go to previous message
djmartin
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I agree with Maarten.

Merge the threads including the unanswered ones, just in case someone is answering while you are merging, then delete the duplicated questions.

David
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