Same old topics coming on again in just a matter of weeks!

[Surfacing]

Has anyone else besides me noticed that the same old topics keep coming up, like the topics about:

*Were do you live
*What type of music u like
*When is u'r B'day

Why do people keep putting them back up?? I have answered to these topics at least twice and i hav'nt been at the forums very long either... Not saying this is bad just saying that it is annoying and gives people a chance to increase there amount of posts.

[The Magog On The March]

Wahay, I started the music ones! Well, the recent one's atleast. Anyhoo, I'm not really annoyed by it. I was a veteran over at the Silent Hill 2 board (on gamefaqs.com) and I spent a whole afternoon just answering questions (I was feeling generous. So sue me.)! I got asked about this damnable roach room about 30 times (For christs sake people, just press the red buttons on the keyboard! Try different combonations!) so I got used to the redundency of topics on message boards... nyah.

[Steve]

watch as in a week or two someone posts this topic again.

[Cool Paramite]

It's because the forums constantly get new members, and if the old topic is unreplied for a while, it gets forgotten. So it happens sooner or later that the same question is asked again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again.

Also, topics that keep coming back are "What is your favorite.....?" topics. Things that are asked about differ, but games and movies are the most popular ones.

---

Did this help you?

[Xavier]

it's the same in the Oddworld discution

Meeches
Come the game on PC or PS2
What do you think about Alf,

grrrrrrr

[Gluk Schmuck]

Actually, I haven't seen a topic like this ever (I joined in April, I think).

You can't blame the newbies for repeating old topics.
I can only think of one way to stop this.


*goes into Eibu-style ultra-descriptive mode*

Whenever a new topic is created and the 'Add Topic' button is pushed the topic should be 'spam tested'.
To test the topic for spam it should be compared to the other topics in the room for similarity (only test the topic, none of the replies), if topics are found which are classed as similar then the topics should appear in a list in the same place as the preview appears (i.e. above the message edit things).
When a topic is clicked the first post should appear above the list which is above the message edit area, if the poster finds the topic to match what they were going to post they can click a link and be taken to the topic!

[Doug]

So, what do you think about Sobe? JUST KIDDING!!!

[Fazerina]

Of course it gets annoying if you're a regular and the same topics come again and again.. But how can a newbie know that there has just been some topic if he/she doesn't go throw all the old topics. And you don't have to answer them again if you don't feel like it. You could just tell the newbie to go to the old topic..

[Danny]

I can think of a kind of solution to limit the symptoms of Topic Repetition Disorder: When an admin or moderator sees a topic being repeated in this manner, he/she posts a link to a previous topic on the same subject, then closes the topic. That way, the person who posted the topic can find the answers he desires, but the new topic is scuppered, and sinks to the bottom of the page... Then, if anybody wants to reply on the topic, they can follow the link and post it in the old topic.

Or we could just point the newbies in the direction of the "Search" button and yell in their ears to check for similar topics before posting...

[Surfacing]

I Like u'r idea Rettick do u think u could do this on u'r own, or would u need admin helps to do it? I vote for u'r decision anyone 1 else 4 Rettick's idea?

[Doug]

I don't think Dan needs any help yelling in our newbie ears.

Actually, the more serious suggestion is a great idea, but it seems like it would be a lot of work for an admin or moderator to keep track of the topics that have been gone over and dig them up in order to create links to them. If it's not practical, I think the only thing to do is encourage members to provide as much detail in the subject line so that one can make a decision as to whether one wants to join in a topic without actually reading the first post. If you find it annoying or repetitive, ignore it. I think a lot of members are doing that to a certain extent; you don't see a lot of response to topics like "PC or not?", and when there is extended discussion it seems to become tangential rather quickly.

[Kroenig the Glukkon]

Was my scariest game poll original or repitive(sp?)?