Are Mirror Threads Offenses? (With Polls To Solve It)

[Somedude1000]

Now, the community rules are a little sketchy about this, so I'll just ask the question here, but at the same time i would like to request your assistance in taking athe poll afterwards on potential ways to solve this issue.

Around update times and sometimes after announcements, there are a plethora of threads created, some of which, due to the overhypedededness of players end up with duplicates.

 

I.e. there exists bug x, player 1 reports bug x by creating thread alpha, then 5 hours later, player 2 also reports bug x by creating thread beta, because the amount of threads being posted causes thread alpha to get buried, meaning player 2 does not know there already exists thread  alpha detailing the aforementioned bug x

 

This is what  will call thread duplication and since thread  alpha and beta are both about the same thing, they will be called mirror threads

 

My question is, is creating a mirror thread an offense that is punishable via the dreaded warning point? Should it be? 

 

Should it be a punishable offense?

 

http://strawpoll.me/2793012

 

How should we prevent them?

 

http://strawpoll.me/2792982

 

 

If you choose to answer the polls, your answers will be recycled to be used in feedback for a thread / threads in the near future

[Imaru]

Far as I know, making a thread about a bug that has already been reported will at worst get the threads merged. I don't think that you are punished for them.

[KiraShado]

It's in the forums rules not to post something that has been posted. It's mostly a negligence of the poster, but it's as bad as J-Walking, it's technically an offence but it's taken very lightly.

[xlraistlx]

Far as I know, making a thread about a bug that has already been reported will at worst get the threads merged. I don't think that you are punished for them.

I'd say "at best" since most of the time both threads are left open and are rarely merged.

[Somedude1000]

Shouldn't be punishable. 

Quite a few members of the community do not know how to search or even navigate the forum correctly.

So i hardly think they should be reprimanded.

Prevent them? They are inevitable.

Moderators can just merge for now. 

 

Valid points indeed. I will take them into consideration

[GhostSwordsman]

I don't think that posting mirror threads should warrant any kind of warning or punishment. The reason being one or both of two things, first being that a large number of people either don't know how to use the forum or are still learning or it's the negligence of the poster for not searching before posting, as KiraShado said.

 

Of course there's also the occasion where the poster searches for said "alpha thread" and the search warrants no results due to a difference in wording. I have the feeling most people don't know how to use key words when searching for something or posting a topic, and such words are just left out of posts entirely making it much more difficult to locate the alpha thread to begin with. I've experienced this before, where I've searched for any existing threads on what I'm about to post and come up empty handed, only to have at least one other member post a link or state that there is already a thread on said bug/topic/etc.

 

I think it could just be left up to members of the forums to act as pseudo moderators and link to the original (earliest created thread) thread in a comment. (I've done so before, specifically when I posted a bug as the alpha thread and then witnessed 5 other threads pop up over the course of the next few days)

Edited October 16, 2014 by GhostSwordsman

[Letter13]

For bug threads we moderators will usually try to merge threads that are about the same bug.

 

As for threads regarding announcements, we try to merge them as soon as they go up, but if they stay alive for a while and there are a lot of "not another one of these threads" posts then we'll usually lock it.

 

It's not warning worthy unless someone repeatedly makes the same thread over and over even after it's been merged or locked (at which point it would be a 30-day 'spamming' warning), as long as a single user isn't spamming similar threads the worst case scenario is that it will be merged or locked.

 

Basically people don't get punished for it. They might have their thread merged or locked with a note to direct further conversation to the announcement thread, but beyond that it's not violating any rules.

 

The locking and merging is to try and keep things consolidated/tidy. No one wants a zillion separate threads about the same thing.

[xlraistlx]

Your second option on one of the polls already exist.

I know we should encourage players to look at this first, but its already on the General section of Bugs for PC, and pinned at the top.

[[DE]Momaw]

I would much MUCH rather have creative chaos where multiple threads sometimes cover the same topics than a police state where everybody is too afraid to say anything for fear it violates some rule.   In fact even now I think many threads are merged incorrectly.  Just because two threads mention the same issue doesn't mean that they are actually on the same aspect of viewpoint of it, and when you merge threads into 20-page bogs of text, there's lots of good points that will never get read because they are buried too deeply.

[Somedude1000]

Your second option on one of the polls already exist.

I know we should encourage players to look at this first, but its already on the General section of Bugs for PC, and pinned at the top.

 

While you make a valid point, you cannot be sure whether the bug you reported exists unless you click and enter that thread, my option was meant to mean the bug thread itself gets pinned

[Letter13]

I would much MUCH rather have creative chaos where multiple threads sometimes cover the same topics than a police state where everybody is too afraid to say anything for fear it violates some rule.   In fact even now I think many threads are merged incorrectly.  Just because two threads mention the same issue doesn't mean that they are actually on the same aspect of viewpoint of it, and when you merge threads into 20-page bogs of text, there's lots of good points that will never get read because they are buried too deeply.

If you feel as if a thread was merged incorrectly, you should bring it up with a moderator or report it so that it can be reviewed.

 

There's also a difference between creative chaos and panicking/fear-mongering (I am referring to the recent partnership announcement).

[Arlayn]

Your second option on one of the polls already exist.

I know we should encourage players to look at this first, but its already on the General section of Bugs for PC, and pinned at the top.

This would be awesome used in another fashion. As in make a topic with the list inside of it mentioning what has been acknowledged, and is being worked on, BUT because DE likes gathering every form of the possibilities that cause said bug. They should have a topic that is pinned specifically for the worst bugs to gather info on, and then encourage people to send bug reports on minor bugs via tickets like the EE log so that DE can easily gather all the needed info on what causes said bug.

 

edit: Although it should mention on said list if they are gathering info on it anymore or not.

Edited October 16, 2014 by Arlayn