I've made a recent modification to one of the rules listed in the forum's Guidelines, specifically this one:
This new line of text has been added underneath it:
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This rule change has already been in practice for some time, but now I finally have it officially documented. :P From now on though, if anyone wasn't aware before, duplicate topic threads are permitted so long as both of these conditions are met:
The prior thread is more than 1 year old in creation.
The prior thread is not actively in-use. (This could be subjective in a lot of cases, but generally "inactivity" of a thread means there hasn't been more than 1 user posting in it for at least a month or so. Feel free to ask if you're not sure.)
Once both of these are met, the new thread may be created. The prior thread should be linked to (just as a courtesy and also for easy navigational & documentation purposes), and then I shall close it.
WHAT'S CONSIDERED TO BE "DUPLICATE"?
"Duplicate topic threads" encompass any thread on the same topic that essentially instigates the exact same discussion. This would include threads that are straight-up duplicates (usually polls from >1 year ago), as well as those that have been reworded and have different functions.
For example, if there were 2 threads on the same topic of discussing your favorite KFP film:
Although these have different functions - one you just simply vote, and another you express your choice and other thoughts - they will still essentially have the same exact discussion in the thread's comments. These would not be permitted to exist at the same time unless the two new guideline conditions are met.
Otherwise, if there was a poll on which member of the Furious Five is your favorite that was created more than a year ago, and there hasn't been more than one person posting in the thread recently, then you may go ahead and recreate it.
WHY THE CHANGE?
In all honesty this guideline should've been here since the start of these new "Discussions" forums, but after seeing exactly how they work over the past couple of years, I now realize there's really no permanence to any existing thread. Hence, no thread should claim rights to a specific topic forever. I also admit it can be hard and time-consuming to sift through all the forum's existing threads to see what has already been posted, so hopefully this helps to alleviate that.
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Please leave any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions in this thread, thanks!