If newbies are all to look up old questions, not ask them again, how will I ever throw in my 2 cents?

Just as I passed over ‘girlfriend’s blood’, maybe you could pass over ones you are bored with.

“If newbies are all to look up old questions, not ask them again…”

I see what you’re doing here and applaud the maturity. There are questions that are asked about once a week. Those are the ones that really don’t need to be asked or answered again because the great answers from people who might be tempted to post them have already been posted on the same question that was asked in the not distant at all past. Questions on fluther are rarely closed and you’re free to go add your 2 cents to those questions.

For some strange ass reasons the “Siblings” box works better than the search. I wish it would display that when you confirm asking a question

“Does it look like any of these will help?”.

I would also add that there’s no real requirement that you don’t ask a question that was once asked, some times an opinion question may get a whole bunch of new insightful answers from people who weren’t part of fluther the first time it was asked. If you ask virtually the same question someone asked a day or two ago, it will probably get removed…but if it was asked 6 months ago, mods will leave it on, and well meaning others who remember seeing the same question 6 months before will look it up and post a link, not to be mean, just to add emphasis to good answers that had already been given.

My suggestion is to search before asking a question, and if you see a question that is exactly what you wanted to post, and the answers give you what you need, leave it alone, but if the question is a little different than what you’re intending or you want new insights, post it if it wasn’t just posted.

avvoooooo applauds my maturity.

@faye Not to mention your encyclopedic knowledge of all things.

Why are you so everlastingly rude?

@faye For the exact same reason as you posted this “question.”

[mod says] Lay off the personal stuff, folks. Let’s stick to the topic.

Seems to me that The Collective…not just new jellies…are encouraged to, but not required to look up their question first.

If duplicate questions were a high priority on Fluther, an option to flag such questions would be prominently displayed and the question would be removed or merged with the previously asked question.

When is the iphone SDK coming out?
How do I download apps to my iPhone.
When is the iphone SDK coming out?
Where do I download the iPhone SDK?
How do I use the SDK?
What is a KFC.?

I wish that was a joke but that was what the frontpage looked like a few years ago. We are a bit sensitive about dupes.

@johnpowell: Your statement reflects the maturity and discipline of subsequent members in their ongoing endeavor to minimize clutter on their site. Kudos.

@SABOTEUR We don’t “merge” questions here.

@avvooooooo: I know. You see, the key word in my previous comment was if.
Such a small word, if…easy to overlook…

@SABOTEUR Yet the option to flag such questions is prominently displayed. It falls mostly under “doesn’t prompt a thoughtful discussion” in the reporting options because there’s a limited scope for discussion on a question that was asked just a week or two ago. The option to provide additional details, such as the link to the same question that was asked previously, exists.

I was simply informing you about the operational difference between this and another inferior website that has the option to merge questions, not discussing the bulk of your comment. As I believe is abundantly clear as I did not address the bulk of your comment.

With all due respect @avvooooooo, why is it necessary to make a big deal over such an innocuous question? I would just let it go were it not for the fact that you insist on reading what you want to read, then creating a response based on your own misinterpretation.

Read your first sentence (Why am I even bothering with this?).

How can something be PROMINENTLY displayed while falling “mostly under” something else?

Need I point out the obvious contradiction?

I appreciate your fervor over this particularly irrelevant topic but I really don’t need you pointing out “operational differences” between Fluther and any other site. I would respectfully request you choose someone else’s comment for whatever platform you’re promoting and possibly consider not taking yourself (or Fluther, for that matter) so gosh-darned seriously.

@SABOTEUR ”Flag as…”

I don’t have to “read into” anything when it is very, very obvious what is actually going on. If you had knowledge about this site and what prompted this question, it would be obvious to you as well. Pointing out that one of your “solutions” is not applicable here is not… whatever you wish to attribute to it now.

It’s obvious my “solution” is not applicable here because flagging duplicates are not applicable here. One would have thought the word “if” in my initial comment would have placed my view in perspective, but I was obviously incorrect. I appreciate your due dilligence on correcting me concerning this important manner.

I was only trying to aid my fellow newbies-did not know avvooo had a questuion of her own. As to answering a 2 month old question, that does not get a new discussion going on. I am sorry, avvoooo, if you took personal offense-none meant or thought of. I just want some questions I can feel part of. I frequently skip over questions that have no interest to me. And I apologize for getting personal.

The only problem I have with avoiding answering questions that have been asked before rather than asking again is that my answer is not likely to be seen. This includes fluther and the merging of duplicates on other sites. I see lots of questions that I would like to answer but I know that, odds are, my answer is not going to be seen. I have seen lots of great questions here that I pass on because of that. I have to be, in my mind, writing an answer for only myself or really care about the subject to answer them… which I sometimes do.

I am annoyed by the frequently asked questions, such as the intermittent flood of 2012 questions… which is going to be very obnoxious next year. I also become extremely tired of such things as the Bush/boot incident, the flood of questions after Michael Jackson died, etc.

I understand why it is done and, actually, like how Fluther does it rather than merging because the question can be brought up more than once, even if it is not frequently. In sites where these are merged, often questions that are the same on the surface, but really are not the same, are merged and, thus, some of the answers are not answering the question. Also, when you have a kazillion answers to any question, merged or not, yours (the generic “you”) is not going to be seen.