Auto merge duplicates doing more harm than good
 

I guess this auto merge things is intended to prevent bumps? And if so, it should really check the text and look for some cluse to determine if it's really a bump, or a duplicate.

It does ruin some good threads. For example, me and Amy are trying to debug a problem with crons. 7 hours later, after my last reply, I wanted to add a new peice to the puzzle, that I'm unable to duplicate the problem. Yet the new post, which is not duplicate, and several hours later, is still merged and marked as duplicate. This doesn't make any sense.

The worst part of it is that it will not send a notification to those subscribed to it, and will not update the last post time, so it will not show up as having any update.

Here's an example:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost....2&postcount=16

Same happened to several threads I'm subscribed to, and I've never been notified of the updates, not was I able to see if they were updated, because of this automerge thing.

Is it really worth it?

And if so, could you at least let send a notification to those who want it...

They should do a dateline check.

Here's a second example, where this auto merge can prevent people from getting help and/or support:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=92526

1. Member asks for help
2. A fix was offered
3. Member confirms that the fix worked
4. Member posts later that there's still a problem
5. Post in #4 is auto merged, so no one gets notified about the remaining problem
6. 4 days later Someone else replies that they have the same problem.
7. Now a notification is sent, and the person helping is able to see that there was a post that was missed due to auto merge.

I have missed a few things as well as I use New Posts to see what threads have been updated.

I like the basic idea of the auto-merge, except the way it has been implemented here is poor. The dateline of an automerged post should be updated, so it shows up in "get new posts". I also think the timelimit on it is very excessive here.

well so far i have noticed that i never had a problem with my posts being merged... even if i post one after another... i believe the reason is i use the quick reply button which always quotes the person before me so it doesnt get merged because of the quotes... im not saying that people should do this to get around the automerge.. but what i am saying is that the automerge isnt perfect an should be looked and have someof these new suggestions applied

wow that was a first... never got auto merged before

never mind my babling than

It sneaks up on you doesn't it :)

But your post reminded me of a 3rd case.

Case #2 deals with people offering help missing any new feedback on their proposed solutions/fixes.

Case #3:

1. You release a hack
2. 3 Members post questions/problems about the hack
3. You reply to each question separately, and it may take a while to investigate each case.
4. All 3 answers get automerged as "duplicates"
5. Members who asked the 2nd and 3rd question will not get a notification. They get the 1st notification, which contains the answer to question #1.
When they check new posts, the see you have "ignored" them, since it doesn't show as anyone replied.

Eventually you realise that you can no longer rely on vB's reply notification, new posts, or thread subscription panel. So if you care about seeing if there are any posts, you'll need to bookmark those threads, and keep checking. Or ignore it completely, and members can PM you to let you know their posts were auto-merged, if they really want to hear from you. :)

Instead of enhancing the parameters and complicating it further, why not just get rid of it... I know bumps are annoying, but at least we got used to them. Auto-merging important stuff and not being able to see updates is not just annoying, it makes it hard to keep track of things.

Automerge does not happen in the hack forums.

That's great. Not as bad as I thought.

But this implies that discussions in the hack forum are too important to mess with, while the rest could be deemed trivial or of less importance...

As we said several times now regarding that topic:

Since the automerger has been installed here we did a step forward, as bumps do not happen anymore.

We did not activate that hack in hackforums as there wasn'T a bumpingproblem, and also there it was usefull to do multiple replies (hack updates and such)

however in the requestforum it will stay as we don't want the senseless bumping again.

We still know how it was before, and how it's now. Ok we know that there is no perfect way, as each thing has it's advantages and disadvantages, but the way it is now has fit in our needs the best.

We cannot make everyone happy.