merging, linking, closing

squeaky

Hi all,

There seems to be some confusion among members about why when where and how threads get merged or linked and so I'm going to try to explain it here.

To start with, the whole site has a set of Site Rules which we have to abide by, and also, linked from these you can find the description for what Board Guides are. Notes on what we are asked to do are posted HERE.



With the exception of Discussion Time and The Moneysavers Arms the boards are about Money Saving.

On many boards, such as Credit Cards, or Vouchers, it is pretty clear that a thread is about cc's, or it isn't.

Old Style isn't quite so clear cut, not by a long way

Even so, there are certain things which are pretty straight forward... such as the fact that merging threads is a good way to help keep similar topics all in one place and so easier for people to find. If you look at the bottom left corner of the Old Style forum listing you will see that we now have close to 5,000 different threads here. That's a huge number for new members to find their way through.

So if, for example, someone asks "can I freeze xyz?" and we already have a thread about "freezing xyz"... we have some choices available to us.

To start with - we can merge the two threads together, in which case we will also PM the original poster to say which thread we have merged to, why we did the merge, and also provide a link. Then we'll also post into the thread to help the other current contributors find it too.

Alternatively we can simply provide a link to the older thread.

We could also provide a link to the existing thread and close the new query.

There are quite a few factors which can impact on the decision making process as to which way we handle these, so I'll do my best to explain them.

One of them is time. If there are lots of new posts (and so lots of things for us to look at) it's much quicker just to link than to go through the merge/PM/post route. Overall, it's not as helpful as merging to keep things tidy and accessible - but at least the poster has been pointed to the help or advice they need.

As a policy here on OS we rarely post a link and close or lock a query thread.


Another factor is how close to an original earlier thread is the newer one. Sometimes they are identical (and even have identical titles) which makes life easier, at others they are very similar and so it becomes a judgement call as to "close enough to merge or varied enough to run as new". So on judgement calls, we do our best to use the option we think will help the original poster the most. That's all we can do. Our best guess.


Time is a factor for the post itself. I know it looks to many as if I'm sitting here all day and every day, but in fact I have a house to run too, and shopping and doctors, and gardening... so in fact I do a bit of domestic god-ing and then sit here for a rest between jobs and catch up with the board. Ark and Pink both have full time jobs and families so their time is limited too.

What this means is that some threads will be a few hours old before they are seen and some just a few minutes.

It causes a whole lot less confusion if threads are moved or merged early in their careers - so, if we think they'll benefit from a merge (time allowing), that is what we'll do.

Older threads can have been answered so fully by other members by the time we see them that there really isn't much point in merging them for more answers because there aren't any different ones in an earlier thread. So they are simply left to drop off the front page.

Other older threads, especially the chattier ones that could possibly have been merged to the Daily Thread end up being left in place because since posts are listed in date order (in the standard layout) an answer to a post in thread A will follow a post in thread B and won't make any sense - posts will get tangled up.

This is also true of two very similar threads that are running concurrently. If we catch one of them early enough, we will merge, if the live posting times overlap and the thread will look tangled up and confusing, then we'll leave them be.

Other posts still will fall into a middle ground area where, given the relaxed chatty style of OS the thread might start on a given topic and then drift slightly as it gets older - again that leaves us with a judgement call as to which thread it might be best merged with, or not at all...


There are simply no set rules on how or when or why, so we do our very best to manage posts in such a way that over all the board is easier to read and to navigate. Our aim is to help keep the board readable and useful and to help as many of you as possible to find the advice and information you need as quickly as possible.

As you'll have seen now, I hope, there are many areas where we have to use our judgement to decide on what is the best way to help in any given thread or post in a rapidly growing and busy board.

Whenever more than one of us is on-line together we talk over our decisions so that, with more than one brain applied and learning from the way the board's emphasis changes, we try to find the best options for you all and, as a consequence, our decision making evolves and adapts to meet the needs of the board as we continually move forwards.


Even if you are not sure of why we may have carried out a particular action on the board - please be assured that we have the best interests of Old Style and its readers very much at heart.

Honest

mirakl

I may have missed it but I can't find any policy on necro-ing old threads, I know in some forums it's frowned upon, however it's encouraged in others to stop threads having to be merged.

Lydia_2

What is necro-ing?

squeaky

In general here we encourage people to search for and join existing threads, however there is no set policy that I'm aware of and certainly no penalties involved.

Some forums here on MSE have a "Please Search First" request posted into their main "Welcome..." stickies at the top of the board.

squeaky

Lydia wrote:

What is necro-ing?

Reviving old threads.

You may recall we had a discussion recently about the difference between joining an older thread for information, and bumping one just to get it put to the top of the forum listing.

mirakl

Lydia wrote:

What is necro-ing?

it's posting in a reasonably old thread, it can be discouraged in forums because sometimes when people post in an old thread it's confusing because the previous posters are no longer around to answer questions etc.

Former_MSE_Andrea

That's one I've never heard of

To answer your question, instead of being frowned upon it's actively encouraged on MSE as it helps newbies find really good tips and information that might otherwise be missed, which would be a shame. It's why we have articles like chat tips gold and freebies gold

Edinburghlass_2

mirakl wrote:

I may have missed it but I can't find any policy on necro-ing old threads, I know in some forums it's frowned upon, however it's encouraged in others to stop threads having to be merged.

I can't make up my mind if necro-ing sounds quite posh or quite rude but I think I might use the phrase next time I bump a thread as I often end up saying I am buming up a thread

ladygrey_2

I've had a few threads merged and a couple of polite, friendly pms from PinkWinged explaining why she had to,

I started a thread about potato wedges coatings that was merged with a similair thread but got no pm and then later I started a thread about how would I make basic wedges, which potatos, method of cooking, should I parboil first etc, I said in the thread this was different to a coatings question but it still got merged in with the coatings thread, I had no pm about either merge. i asked PinkWinged why and why no pm and she explianed it was a fellow boardguide and she'd pass my questions on to him, still no reply and i've noticed other similair threads not merged, I know you explain its all a matter of time but.......

squeaky

I've checked my PM box and I'm sorry to say that I can't find one either. If I remember rightly things were pretty busy that day and I must have missed you out.

So I'm sorry about that.

ambergold

Sorry if the answer to this question is staring me in the face, but please would someone tell me where to find the rules of this website. Thanks.