Auto merge duplicates doing more harm than good

[Talisman]

When somebody posts a message, email notices are sent to those subscribed to that thread. Now, if that same poster goes back to edit that same message ten minutes later, all those people who received email notices won't find out that something was changed, added, or deleted unless they happen to re-read the same message again once they come back here to visit the site.

The flow of discussion in that thread could quite easily have continued on to another page by this time. Most folks don't scroll back far enough to re-read all the messages they're already familiar with, so they read on from the point in the conversation where they left off. The result of this being... that a good number of people don't find out later that the original content has changed.

If this has never been a problem when messages are edited on purpose, why is it such an issue now when subsequent posts have been automerged?

[Revan]

And how often do people read the email and post within 10 minutes?

[Chris M]

There is no way to make it smarter really - It works on a time limit...

If you make it so that it doesn't do it for quoted posts (for example) people will just abuse the system...

There may be a way to send an email update on an auto-merge :ermm:

Chris

[Mark.B]

I despise auto-merging with a vengeance. Anyone who likes it should be tied down and have pins inserted into their feet.

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by Mark.B

I despise auto-merging with a vengeance. Anyone who likes it should be tied down and have pins inserted into their feet.

As a forum feature, I like it. I don't like how it's implemented here.

[timetunnel]

Revan,

I'm sorry you missed my point. That person who replied to my post gave me some good suggestions from his perspective. I thought of another after his ideas gave me an idea for which I am very appreciative. But because of the automerge in this particular case, there is not good way to let him know that he ultimately helped me more than I knew initially without sending him a PM or E-mail.

I do understand the purpose of automerge and I may even use it in the future for my forum, but it will be at least a minimum of say, 12 hrs, maybe more, because I want the discussion to continue when my members get new ideas and other breakthroughs. This type of discussion continuation has worked for me on other forums which ultimately even got others involved and it was GREAT!

Of course, you are entitled to your opinion and I am to mine.

Let the discussions continue within a reasonable time limit before automerge kicks in, is all I'm saying.

Try not to get too emotional...its just automerge... :squareeyed:

[dre]

how do i add automerge onto my forums? is it a hack? I need this badly.

Cheers

[Chris M]

Search for Xenon, and you will see a 3.5 version in his list of hacks

Chris

[Brad]

<a href="https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?threadid=96602" target="_blank">https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showt...threadid=96602</a>

[Xplorer4x4]

Originally Posted by Paul M

As a forum feature, I like it. I don't like how it's implemented here.

I mostly agree with Paul, although I think it should be implemented here BUT, perhaps change it to a figure like 12 hours rather then 24.