As a Moderator for another forum, I understand the need to keep things tidy, so I can appreciate the concept of merging threads when the situation dictates, but it seems so many threads are merged here into other threads that, when reading said thread, it becomes confusing by the lack of continuity due to fragmented content.
I’m in no way trying to bash the Mods on this board. I could think of few more thankless jobs, so I appreciate what they do. This is merely an observation.
It might be beneficial to consider merging threads into certain headings and then have sub-headings so that each thread can have its own existence, (except threads of identical content, which could easily be merged while maintaining clarity).
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I agree. I have seen good ideas lost because of merging threads and then the meaning gets lost
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Threads on similar topics are merged to counter the fragmentation that would result from multiple threads and duplicate conversation:
Merging bumps the older conversation to Latest
- The first users to have the same thought get to see their threads kept alive, rather than “lost” from being bumped down from other users creating new threads.
- Search results provide the merged topic, rather than making a searcher check each of a dozen topics on the same discussion to make sure they’ve read all the conversation.
- A question with a good solution in the past is kept present, so that the community doesn’t have to look up the old answer to a new thread about the same old question.
- Fragmented answers or opinions on a topic are kept together, proving a fuller context to the discussion, rather than a new thread and a post that make it look like there’s only one viewpoint on that topic.
- New topics asking or commenting on duplicate discussion don’t get left hanging with zero replies.
- In most cases, users creating topics are trying to get the attention of the developers or the rest of the community. This is achieved more effectively by a single topic with a dozen replies than a half a dozen topics with a single reply, and fewer views. This is also true for the voting-enabled Suggestions.
- To try to create subcategories for discussion so users can create duplicate threads under each heading would create an endless, unusable navigation menu. In effect it would be no different than doing away with categories altogether.
Users can help reduce the confusion by searching for and posting in existing threads first rather than creating new duplicate threads that trigger a repeat of conversation and answers that have already been discussed.
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