There is a lot of duplication
 

I've spent some time looking through some old and very old threads in various catagories and one thing I've noticed is that there is a lot of duplication of questions and indeed answers. It's very eye opening to look through old threads and I have to say quite fun.

Is it possible to improve the search facility in some way to avoid duplication? There is so much great information on this site, but it's really difficult to get hold of.

Another thing, there are a lot of threads, mainly to do with experiments and seed planting etc that I need closure on. If you started a thread like this, I would love to see photos or what ever. I need closure don't leave me hanging on!!

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Honestly, I've been on several forum sites to know that duplicate questions get asked ALL THE TIME. That's just kinda how it always is. New members join and instead of looking for the answers to their question in the previous threads, they start a new thread to ask their question.

The best way I have found to deal with this issue (as a moderator of another site) is to use hyperlinks (highlight part of your post text and use the button that looks like a globe and a chain link in the toolbar to insert the URL) to link members to other similar threads when they ask repetitive questions. Another site I was on also had a 'similar threads' feature that showed threads with similar topics when you typed in the title of your thread so you could look at them before starting new threads on topics previously covered.

That's about all I've got.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

It's true there are a lot of duplicate threads. A lot of websites frown on newcomers asking the same questions over and over without first search the archives but here people don't seem to mind answering the same thing time and again.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

There is a significant portion of society that wants to be told things, even if it is already in print.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

We used to have "Similar Threads" here, but it's gone now. Maybe we can request it back from Jarrod.???

I used to use that all the time, very interesting!

Margie:waving:

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

jm, I remember when I first joined shortly after you and no doubt asked a bunch of questions that were answered a thousand times before. My take is to encourage all as much and as patiently as possible. Things that were a mystery 11 months ago are now old news but to those newcomers asking, a personal reply means a lot. Yeah some of us now just want to get to the meat and bones but I have to assume the greatest grower out there might not even have a banana plant yet. Maybe they'll let me know something new. I had a lot of encouragement from some that are no longer even here much any more..........any one heard from magicgreen who was so nice to me when I first started? A way to refer to older posts with answers might be good, but nothing is better than an encouraging PM to a newcomer............was to me at least..........now if I'd just get a flower!

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

To me, as long as it is free I don't mind to look for what I am looking for. Even if it takes me while to look for it.
And as for closures or photos you are asking, there are many people who don't know how to post pictures yet and each individual is independent for what they want to do.
I know you mean well but I'm not sure if it can be done here.
That's my 2 cents.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Ever since I became moderator I've deleted maybe 15 duplicate threads, but I had to keep many of them intact because of that small portion of information in one or two posts. Information, that were in no other thread. Maybe it would be worth the time to merge those threads together, but then it would lose its simplicity, wouldn't it?:lurk:

If I see a question that was surely answered before, I don't bother to write a new response, just paste the link in and add this:

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Its funny, I'm on a SW Reef site that the same questions are asked every single day
And if you posted a thread like this some of the jokers would post 2 more threads with the same title as a joke
I always try to search 1st & read
Some people maybe do not have the time or patience to go looking
Or may do not know the proper search word to use
And I do go back & edit to add info
I've seen people on other sites post 4 replies on the same thread in a row
Site has 30 second "timeout" between posts & they still manage to do it

Many sites do not have the multi-qoute option
And many people do not know how to use it

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Similar threads have been re-enabled and moving forward, new threads will have them appear.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Yeah, the repeated asking of the same few questions can be a bit frustrating at times, but I'm with Bob on this....I'm not going to ignore someone's question if I know the answer....even if I've answered the question in great detail many times before. Sure, I would still encourage everyone to 'search then post if you don't find what you desire' and if I'm busy I might just link them to a similar thread to quickly help out. But in the end, I think we should also be patient about it and do our best to answer questions when they are asked. Like Bob said, a personal response to one's question really means a lot more to a person than reading responses to the question elsewhere.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

I wasn't trying to be pompous and I tried to put it in a light hearted way, just thinking of ways that things could be improved. It prompted some debate, which is always a good thing.

I think those that have been members for a while should spend some time looking through old threads they are great.

I have noticed a few members which used to post a lot don't post at all anymore. Does anyone know what happened to mr bungalow?

As for the needing closure on old threads it was only intended to be tounge in cheek, just as a thread gets interesting it stops.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

I feel very sorry, because the European legends such as Mr. Bungalow and The Flying Dutchman practically started the European generation here many years ago and now they are silent offline ghosts. :(

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

jm just to clear up, I and (I believe)all didn't take you wrong or as pompous. Any suggestions for improvement should be discussed. This was the right way to do it

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Curiosity is never 'pompous', just a great way to learn & advance :). As for old members, everyone eventually finds a time to leave the nest and take new turns in life - It's just a natural thing to do. Now that Jarred's enabled 'similar threads', that should help a lot :).

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

I think some people are not too familiar with forum software and how to phrase their searches (especially if you aren't familiar with the proper terms), so duplicate topics are bound to happen. On the bright side, some information does change with time, for instance hardiness, overwintering and specimen information which might not get highlighted on the older threads. I also think that even though the questions still might be silly and duplicate it also encourages people to post. I think posting rate cumulates exponentially, for example my posting rate has more than doubled in few days, slowly starting from one and now I've even made a few posts today _o/. I'll go on and fill the interwebs! With bananas! And with random additional words that resemble sentences!

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

I don't mind at all answering duplicated questions. I earned more banana bucks for that which maybe I can use them at some future point in time (I already did when I advertised here).
Besides seeing more banana bucks in your name makes you feel good knowing that you contributed here.
And besides it's all free.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

Yeah, the duplicate questions DO stimulate discussion/activity on the site. They also tend to get more new people involved than older threads (as people tend to feel separated if they weren't a part of the initial discussion). Moreover, the discussion may lean in a different direction than another very similar question and have new points brought up. It's still a great idea to search for threads in the forums to read up on, but it's not a huge problem to start new ones either...so I can kinda see both sides of the story.

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

You are wrong, I only did some work that had to be done because no one else would do it, like the start of the WIKI.
I new nothing about Bananas and at that time guys like Taylor, Frank, Randy4meT (later), Momoese, Mr Bungalow and a few others and ofcourse Gabe were the specialists.
And my job as a Mod. overhere was quite simple, as I couldn't answer
questions about growing Bananas.
Ofcourse I learned alot about bananas, reading every post and building
up the WIKI.
In any case, it's good to see the IBS is healthy and alive!

Regards from a Ghost:)

Re: There is a lot of duplication
 

RON! :woohoonaner: