Delete reposts, rather than locking.

[pythonmegapixel]

I thought the entire point of not allowing reposts in a short space of time was to reduce clutter on the forum.

 

So why, when a repost occurs, is it invariably locked - and therefore left adding to the clutter - rather than being deleted?

Surely a deletion and a private message to OP would be a better solution?

 

It's not like any information is being lost here, as the information in the post still exists in a different thread.

[Slottr]

Speaking for myself at least, it's simply easier to lock the thread and leave a message then and there without having to change page a few times

 

I'll bring this up with the others though

[LogicalDrm]

This is one of those things each mod does bit differently.

 

Mine is:

• If the dublicate has no replies, it will just be removed.
• If it has replies, threads will get merged and dublicated posts or other clutter will be removed (including the usual whining and backseat moderation)

[Guest]

I think they merge them sometimes.

[SansVarnic]

I mainly merge multi-posted topics, unless I am on a time crunch or some other off reason... 9/10 merge.

[WkdPaul]

1 hour ago, SansVarnic said:

I mainly merge multi-posted topics, unless I am on a time crunch or some other off reason... 9/10 merge.

Pretty much the same. Will usually merge, but will sometimes lock with a message.

[pythonmegapixel]

4 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

Pretty much the same. Will usually merge, but will sometimes lock with a message.

That sounds reasonable. But what I don't understand is why locking makes more sense than deleting in that case, assuming the duplicate has no replies?

[WkdPaul]

2 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

That sounds reasonable. But what I don't understand is why locking makes more sense than deleting in that case, assuming the duplicate has no replies?

Like other mods have said, sometimes it's time. We're volunteers, so for myself, I'll be on the forum when I can, and that sometimes mean I'm on my phone. I'll do my best, but I don't always have the time to merge, clean and then send a PM (that can be up to 5 minutes per thread, it could be more time than I have on my phone).

[pythonmegapixel]

55 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

Like other mods have said, sometimes it's time. We're volunteers, so for myself, I'll be on the forum when I can, and that sometimes mean I'm on my phone. I'll do my best, but I don't always have the time to merge, clean and then send a PM (that can be up to 5 minutes per thread, it could be more time than I have on my phone).

Ah, I see. I didn't realise it took significantly longer to do one than the other. That would make sense.

[Spotty]

You're referring to when one person posts the same topic multiple times, or when different people post on the same topic (eg. A tech news topic)?

 

Assuming the former, sometimes it's locked for transparency. It also serves as a reminder to other people who see it that reposting a thread multiple times isn't going to get you anywhere. In some circumstances if the post has received replies it can be beneficial to lock and leave a note directing to the earlier thread to continue the discussion. This can make it easier for the people who were responding to find the original topic, opposed to if the thread was just deleted and they didn't know why. 

 

The majority of the time if it has replies we will try to merge it in with the previous thread. Sometimes if we catch it early enough and there aren't any replies, or if people are just spamming it, it'll be deleted. Different situations call for different responses. Very few are actually locked, it's just that a locked thread is more noticeable than when a thread has been merged or deleted.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

To add on, I guess another issue with merging topics all of the time is that it disrupts any conversation that's going on in either of the two streams. And the conversations from those two streams might have gone off to their own tangents but still on topic. But awkward for the mods when both streams have some form of healthy conversation going. Merging the two would disrupt both streams as the two would just be mashed together all willy-nilly where messages are ordered chronically.