Duplicate (or more) topics

Is it me or do there appear to be more and duplicate (triplicate and even quadruplicate) topics cropping up than ever before and less moderator intervention of said than there used to be? Just in the last few days we've had about five Black Friday topics.

Isn't it customary to first search for an existing topic and then post anything you may have to add there? Or not post at all if it's already covered? One of the really useful things when you're trying to put the big picture together or generate some intelligent discussion or debate is having it all in one place. Having to search for things in multiple places makes that harder, and begins to fragment your mind too when you think you've commented about something in one topic and it turns out it was in a similar (if not identical) one.

I understand that now and then a search doesn't work quite right or that if you scan the first page or two of recent posts you might simply miss it, but heck make an effort please.

Sorta the way this thread resembles this previous thread? :

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Sorry .. just had to do it

[edit on 28-11-2009 by Resinveins]

Originally posted by ~Lucidity

Isn't it customary to first search for an existing topic and then post anything you may have to add there? Or not post at all if it's already covered?

Oh boy ... how to say this nicely ...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Edit to curse you Resinveins!

[edit on 28 Nov 2009 by schrodingers dog]

got to admit, I was going to do the same as the previous two posters, but decided not to.

I agree with what your saying, but I have always been told each one has their own individual twist.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Well, you nicely demonstrated one aspect of the problem. Now for an explanation of the other...

I imagine it takes a lot of work for mods to chase duplicate threads. They don't stay here all day just moderating the boards. So unless someone points it out, it gets missed.

Tough all the way around.


[edit on 29-11-2009 by loam]

reply to [ufrl=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread522801/pg1#pid7620857]post by schrodingers dog[/url]


Haha...point taken...glad I covered myself by saying that sometimes search doesn't yield the results you expect (I searched on duplicate and not multiple...my bad...but hey at least it wasn't on the first three pages of recent topics. Whew.

On another note, it really does bug me more when it happens all in the span of a week or a few days...as in when something is breaking or as in copycat topics.

Mods, you can delete this topic if you want. Seems the last one on this issue didn't do any good and this one probably won't either.

reply to post by loam


Yeah, I know. Think I could get away with saying I did it on purpose? But again, I was more talking about current things...not so much things buried way back.

Um three or four "Black Friday" topics were on page 1 for a lot of the past few days. Another one is the Fed news. Another one is Saudi witchcraft and another is Dubai. Maybe it's the holidays and everyone's busy.


[edit on 29-11-2009 by ~Lucidity]

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Maybe the MOD to traffic ratio is off.

Sometimes threads that appear to be the same, actually aren't. It takes a lot of time to actually read them.

Ask yourself how much ground you cover on the site each day? Does it even make a dent in the overall daily activity of this website? Probably not.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I have found that alerting staff in private always yields good results ...

Plus they love to be alerted, you might not know this but they get paid on commission ... the more alerts they respond to the more Benjamins come raining down. So never hesitate to contact them to tell them what is wrong or simply to say hi.

*what? no? but I thought ...*

Never mind.

reply to post by loam


Even if they're not identical, seems to me they could still in many cases be combined into a real discussion with supporting evidence and breaking new...case in point recently is the Climate Hoax stuff. How it would work might go, topic started on the scandal, and then as things break post the news about it. That helps keep a timeline of unfolding events. Maybe I'm weird but that's how I like to follow breaking stories, discussion, and debates. Just a thought.

reply to post by schrodingers dog

They don't get paid on commission, silly. Or do they? But point taken. I haven't had much success with the alert function lately. And again, it just seems to me that in the past the mods were right on top of it and lately not so much.

I do agree, as you all know this is pretty much my ONLY gripe about ATS!

From my other thread already mentioned above!

Originally posted by kiwifoot

I'm sorry, but I just find this absurd!!!


British police arrest people 'just for the DNA' Breaking Alt News

Arrests are being made 'to expand DNA files' General Consp

Police making arrests 'just to gather DNA samples' NWO

I'm extremely proud to be a member of ATS, but I think a situation like this reflects poorly on the site.

Multiple threads pertaining to conspiracies are one thing, but all three of these are discussing the exact same news item, a news item, not a historical conspiracy.

I will not give up on this, it really makes ATS look daft!

Multiple threads on the same topic in general I think are fine.

I mean am I saying only one person can do a thread on JFK, or the LHC killing us all? No of course not. And yes, that means in my eyes this thread is fine, especially in Board Questions!

But when a new story comes out, or a new take on existing conspiracies, then there should only be ONE thread allowed I feel.

The above situation is just nonsense, and there was actually one more fro a while in BAN, I'm not sure if it got trashed.

NOT FOR ONE SECOND am I blaming the mods, or saying that they're not doing their jobs (that must be hard enough as it is), it is our responsibility as members to research (search) but I know that from experience it doesn't always bring up the alternate threads (due to slight variations in the title of the source article usually). I'd like to see this self-policed, or give the members the ability to write:

Already being discussed here WWW>ATS>COM posted on 28-11-2009 @ 08:41 PM thread closed

-the closing of the thread is validated by copying and pasting the time stamp of the original thread.

EVEN IF it is in another forum which is allowed.

Just doesn't make sense to have the exact same story in multiple forums.

If what the second or third poster wrote is so important that it needs to be said, then they can repost it in the first thread (the one posted first!)

I also think that this would free up a lot of mod time which would allow them to do more important stuff like telling me off!!!






[edit on 29-11-2009 by kiwifoot]

Great points too. I was just reading YOUR topic about this (and two others which I found when I searched every which way I could think of at this late hour.

I'm not at all bashing the mods either! They do a wonderful job. I love the mods! *kissyface* Was just saying that they used to be a lot more strict about it and more on top of things like dups when I first came to ATS and I for one very much appreciated that and got spoiled and now I miss it! I guess they're just busier these days or something.

Sometimes I will mention to someone that it's also being discussed in another topic about the same thing so they get that discussion too.