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I have seen this pop up a few times recently, although I do know it is a consistent occurrence. The situation where a poor question is rapidly closed, so the OP makes the same post again with little to no change. For example

The first post: What is the difference between matrices, matrix, dimensions? I have tried to understand the meaning behind them, but i can't understand the concept

The repost: What is the difference between, matrices, matrix, dimensions? I have tried to understand the meaning behind them, but I can't understand the concept

I often see votes to close the second as a duplicate of the first, but I do notice that the duplicate closure reason states

This question has been asked before and already has an answer.

This makes sense to me, since typically closing as a duplicate is to point people in the direction of where one can already find an answer; there is no sense in having multiple copies of the same information across the site.

However, in situations like the reposted bad questions linked to above, is it still correct to close as a duplicate? Does it really even matter as long as it is closed? Is the duplicate closure reason actually preferred since it is a signal of "hey, you already tried this and it didn't work, don't try the same thing again"?

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  • $\begingroup$ Comment to the post (v1): The displayed example appears to not be closed as a duplicate. Is this on purpose? If not consider to use a more relevant example. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 8:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Qmechanic The specific closure reason here isn't relevant. I am not asking for specific analysis of this case but about the more general question raised my post above. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 11:23
  • $\begingroup$ Note that normal users cannot vote to close as a duplicate of a deleted question. So in many cases where the OP deletes and reposts their question, normal users cannot close it as a duplicate of the original. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 18:44
  • $\begingroup$ @VincentThacker Right, if the post is deleted then my post here isn't relevant in that case at all $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 18:47

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OP's point is explicitly answered in the Help Center documentation on duplicates (emphasis in original)

If a user votes to close a question as a duplicate, a comment with the duplicate link will be automatically posted on that question (if no one else has already voted for that particular duplicate). The user who cast that vote is the owner of the comment, and can edit or delete it like any other comment. In general, the original question must have an answer; questions may only be marked as duplicates of unanswered questions (a) on meta sites, (b) when the questions share the same author, or (c) when closed by a moderator.

The clauses immediately following the bold font indicate that it is perfectly acceptable to close unanswered questions as a duplicate if it is by the same author.


As suggested elsewhere, suggestions to change the closure text should be asked on Mother Meta (and a brief search of duplicate banner is:q does not yield anything obvious as a previous discussion on the matter, though other keyword searches may).

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It seems that this is a case where the close reason text from the SE engine is currently unreasonable, which possibly should be addressed on the SE mother meta site.

E.g. it often happens that a user within a short time span asks the same question twice after their first question was closed. The correct procedure is that the user is supposed to edit the original question within the original entry to address the original close reason; not to post a duplicate.

Admittedly, the following related issue does not help: I am being told conflicting resolutions for fixing a closed question, what should I do?

Unfortunately, the SE software does not allow Phys.SE to edit the formulation of these post notices.

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  • $\begingroup$ I understand your second paragraph, but I don't think it is relevant here. I am not asking if users shouldn't be reposting their bad questions. I am asking if it's better to close the repost as a duplicate of the first, or to close it based on what is bad about it. Should duplicate closing be reserved for the case when the duplicate is a good question that provides an answer only, or should the close reason in this case in fact be closing as a duplicate? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 18:46
  • $\begingroup$ @BioPhysicist It's standard practice across the network to close such reposted questions as dupes of the original. I don't think that should change. However, I agree that the dupe closure notice could be improved, but that's a topic for meta.stackexchange.com I sometimes post a brief comment saying something like "Please don't repost your closed question. Instead, edit the original question so that it's answerable". Of course, some closed questions are so poor that editing won't help, so I don't bother commenting on those. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7, 2024 at 8:30
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Although the closure reason This question has been asked before and already has an answer. in the close dialog does not change, the publicly-displayed closure notice will indeed change to This question already exists instead of the usual This question already has answers/an answer here, as shown in the image below.

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Therefore, I don't think this alone is a sufficient argument to restrict duplicate closing strictly to the case of actual duplicates. In addition, I am of the opinion that closing the repost as a duplicate of the original is more informative to viewers and also encourages the redirection of comments (and other activity) to the original question, making it more consolidated.

Unfortunately, in the vast majority of cases I've seen, the OP deletes the original question while making the repost, rendering normal users unable to close it as a duplicate of the original, so this is a really small subset of cases.

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  • $\begingroup$ I am sorry, I am not following. I am not asking where a certain feature is $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 18:55
  • $\begingroup$ @BioPhysicist I have updated the answer. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 20:04
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    $\begingroup$ Ideally, in all cases the original post should be undeleted if necessary. The repost should be closed as a duplicate of the original and also locked/deleted and the comments/edits on it merged into the original, so that there is only one copy of the question around. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2024 at 20:23

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