43

This question mainly targets gold tag badge owners.

Sometimes a question is asked and closed as a duplicate.

This question is very likely to have been already asked, but the "original" question doesn't match, or only partially matches.

Sometimes it's you who closed the question, but further comments from others convince you that this isn't the proper duplicate target.

You could reopen the question, but you could not close it again as a duplicate with a better original question, because you already voted to close once, so what do do?

  • 1
    I think your title and question should clarify that this only pertains to gold badgers. – Frank Aug 25 '17 at 17:12
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    @Frank Like this one? – Dawood ibn Kareem Aug 26 '17 at 6:13
57

A lot of gold tag badge owners are still unaware of the "Edit" button to add original questions as duplicate targets.

enter image description here

This feature was introduced a few months ago and is very useful to add more questions, but it is also useful to change the original question if doesn't fit at all.

But even for some who know the feature: you can edit the original list, add a more fitting original question, then delete the previous original question (and save), making your original the only one target.

enter image description here

The advantages:

  • you can change your original when another user complains that it doesn't answer the duplicate (reopening+closing again isn't an option here since you already voted to close, then reopened)
  • you can change the original another user/other users used when closing the question without having to reopen (and risking that someone answers a question asked 1000 times already)
  • you can still reopen the question if someone is really persuasive and convinces that this question isn't a duplicate.

EDIT: another nice trick: if the question has been tagged with a "weak" tag (ex: instead of ) was closed but you don't have the gold badge in that tag (like here: How to remove \n character from a sentence using strip()), you can edit the tags to add the main tag, then the "edit" button becomes available to you (unlike for hammering).

That's the first time I'm asking & answering at the same time, because I already used this "trick" and it really improves the quality of duplicate links. Not willing to patronize anyone.

  • 1
    I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do. We can audit posts that wqe have hammered and then were reopened. I'm not sure if we can audit posts that were hammered and then had the dupe link changed. If the dupe is wrong a I think a reopen and close is more appropriate then a edit of the link. Also, in the time it takes to reopen and close the question it is very unlikely that anyone will be able to answer it, were talking like 5 seconds tops. – NathanOliver Aug 25 '17 at 14:36
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    @NathanOliver: I personally see this as a valid usage of the Edit feature. Having to reopen and then close a question as a different dupe was an issue, and I feel like this addresses it well. Just so long as there aren't too many targets... – Makoto Aug 25 '17 at 14:42
  • @Makoto As a non gold badge holder I agree but what is the issues as a gold badge holder? You can insta reopen and close. I've done this multiple times without issue. – NathanOliver Aug 25 '17 at 14:45
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    Yes, as a gold badge holder in Java I've had the ability to insta-close and insta-reopen. But that always felt like an annoying hack; I have to expend my only reopen vote to change the dupe target. In frankness, a chunk of the times I've had to reopen a question was due to me wanting to change the dupe target; here, I don't have to do that. The question is still a dupe, so it shouldn't be reopened. It just might be the case that the dupe target is pointing in the wrong way. – Makoto Aug 25 '17 at 14:48
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    @NathanOliver you cannot reopen and close if you closed with a wrong original question the first time, then were convinced my more acute readers that your original question doesn't cover the dupe. – Jean-François Fabre Aug 25 '17 at 14:59
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    Changing the dupe link doesn't show up in the post history? It seems like something that should. – Don't Panic Aug 25 '17 at 15:01
  • 1
    @Don'tPanic: Quick, we need to test this. I can't test it on this question since it's not a discussion, though. – Makoto Aug 25 '17 at 15:04
  • I'm pretty sure it is in the history, I just don't know how easy it is to uses the SEDE to find all post that you hammered where the link you hammered to was removed from the post. My SQL skills aren;t the greatest so maybe it is easier then I think. – NathanOliver Aug 25 '17 at 15:05
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    Yeah, it's definitely in the history. @NathanOliver – Cody Gray Aug 25 '17 at 16:22
  • @NathanOliver Maybe you can post an answer with your "I think a reopen and close is more appropriate" line (since that sure looks like an answer, but no one can vote on it as such) along with an explanation of what you mean by "audit", because I cannot grok your meaning in this context. – Frank Aug 25 '17 at 17:21
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    @CodyGray Just FYI, it's in the history but doesn't change/generate the "edited by" link – Machavity Aug 25 '17 at 17:24
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    and you cannot add a comment on why you edited the list like a normal edit. – Jean-François Fabre Aug 25 '17 at 21:35
13

If you think the duplicate target mostly (but not entirely) covers the original question, as a gold badge holder, you'd add more duplicate targets. Please note that you don't contribute positively to the site by reopening obvious duplicates, and that will actually be harmful if the question doesn't get re-closed quickly enough: answers posted in the meantime may prevent automatic deletion of poor questions.

If the duplicate target seemingly bears little to no relation to the original question, and the question was closed by a fellow gold badge holder, you should ping them in comments and ask to explain their decision, especially if they have more experience in the question's main tag -- you may be missing something important. Yes, they will be notified.

If they don't respond after some time (and in all other cases), feel free to reopen, but don't do it silently. Please explain your motivation in comments.

  • 1
    Agreed! every time I reopened "under pressure", I regretted it and someone answered some lame mush, then it got closed again. – Jean-François Fabre Aug 25 '17 at 17:46
  • I don't see you closing questions as often these days. What happened? – cs95 Aug 26 '17 at 7:09
  • @Jean-FrançoisFabre I was asking the king of dupe hammering, ofc. – cs95 Aug 26 '17 at 7:28
  • I'm in holiday, that's why. I'm not in front of my computer all the time. Only half the time :) but that's over eventually. vaultah has a very deep knowledge of dupes. I'm new here in comparison. – Jean-François Fabre Aug 26 '17 at 7:28
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    I used to think I had a deep knowledge of dupes, but then I discovered it was mostly full of duplicates :-( – Cody Gray Aug 26 '17 at 11:24
-2

In the case where you are convinced that the duplicate isn't the correct one but you don't know if a better one exists, always cast a gold badge re-open vote.

This might happen when you dupe-hammer a post yourself, then later realize that it wasn't a duplicate. Sure, by re-opening the post again you forfeit your own right to cast close votes on the question. But this is a good thing - probably you were too trigger happy to begin with, missing some detail when you read the question.

Instead, leave the question for another gold badge user to moderate. I think the dupe hammer system works particularly well when several gold badge users review each other's votes.

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