Issues with duplicates.

Lamkssg on 15/03/2010 - 15:59

This is just my opinion. Lately, it seems that mods are getting stricter on duplicates, which i am happy about. But in some cases, i feel that the duplicate should just be left alone. For example, when the deal was posted months ago.

Take for an example a deal on the front page now, listed

"This deal is not published.
Send Free SMS with Australia's leading web-based text messaging service. (Duplicate)"

The duplicate was like 180 days ago, which as far as i am concerned, shouldn't be considered a duplicate as no one in the right frame of mind would go through months of deals in which over 90% are expired just to find that one that is valid.

I think that should be a clear guideline which says something like, "A deal can be reposted once every 90 days".

Site Discussion

Comments

  • neil on 15/03/2010 - 17:28

    I was the one who modded that deal and usually if it is quite old and garnering positive votes then we will leave it but…

    This is a duplicate of something that probably shouldn't haven't been posted in the first place as there are lots of these free sms sites on the web. Before I unpublished I pointed out SMSGlobal which is 225 free SMSs with coupon code.

    There is no specific deal, its just pointing out a business that does free sms. Alternate scenario would have been if I we left it up there it would have garnered a lot of negative votes, comments like the previous deal.

    • amkssg on 15/03/2010 - 19:11

      i am not a fan of the free sms deal.

      I mean, in general, there should be some rule with regards to what is considered a "reasonable" time-frame to post a duplicate. Thanks for the reply.

  • inherentchoice on 18/03/2010 - 01:23

    I think this was a duplicate that was left alone:
    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/22670

    …it's duplicate was about 5 months earlier, but it's an example to keep in mind if anyone is considering this issue of duplicates with a large time gap between them.

    • neil on 18/03/2010 - 01:35

      One is for an upgrade to Win 7 Professional expiring Jan 3 2010.
      The other is an upgrade to Win 7 Home Premium expiring March 31 2010.

      Similar offers, but if they were the same and the new offer had a good flow of positive votes then I (maybe not all mods) would keep it.

      • [Deactivated] on 24/03/2010 - 08:44

        Its also a function of how the site has grown. With more deals older deals are less likely to be found even though they still exist. where as in the past a search would reveal them rather quickly so no need to repost.

        It's probably something we should revisit and see if there is an alternative way we can address this, if there is enough interest expressed here.

        One option maybe an "Active Deals" heading, where you can select a category to see whats still available?

        But this does need discussion on pros cons and effectiveness

      • Livert on 24/03/2010 - 12:09

        I agree. The current system works fine. If enough people benefit from a duplicate post then it will be voted up. Keeping in mind though, there will be some who will neg the deal because it's a duplicate making it harder for dupes to reach the front page threshold. Everything will balance itself out. No reason for mod involvement.

        Edit: Also, a question for the mods. Is there a system in place similar to Digg, to alert a poster that their deal may be a duplicate if the target URL is the same as a previous deal? A feature like this could prevent first-time newbie posters from getting an onslaught of neg votes causing them to be discouraged to even attempt posting again.

        • neil on 24/03/2010 - 12:29

          There is a duplicate detection box but I'm unsure what it does , as it never brings anything up for me. Another Scotty question.

          The duplicate system works but its a lot of manual work from the mods . Many of the duplicates are us remembering from the top of our head that this was posted before. If we make a solid rule that says 6 months is the cut off for a duplicate, then what's to stop people continually posting the same popular deals every 6 months. Sometimes people repost things and it gets a lot of positive votes. Sometimes it gets negative votes. I would have never thought random Logitech products and not a freebie would be our top deal.

          Fortunately, we (and other sites) bring so many numbers to these deals, that many of them aren't long standing.

          • Livert on 24/03/2010 - 12:42

            @neil:

            I would have never thought random Logitech products and not a freebie would be our top deal.

            LOL. Probably due to the current purchasing strength of our economy and a large user population with an unending hunger for cheap, quality tech products. Not sure why the surveillance cams got so many votes though; maybe simply due to the way I worded the title and the hype surrounding Logitechshop at the time. Freebies don't get as many votes as they usually run out pretty quickly.

            I’ve gone off into a tangent now. Back to discussing dupes.

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