Cracking down on duplicate accounts

[Melvin- Admin]

I’ve noticed recently that there’s been quite a few duplicate accounts. New posters speaking aggressively or with particular interest in one surgeon/clinic. 

I want to remind everyone that duplicate accounts are not allowed. if I catch you posting from multiple accounts you will be banned no questions asked. 

[NARMAK]

Think this should be pinned at the top. 

I do get maybe some aren't as comfortable asking certain questions on their main account though for fear of possibly being judged. 

[Melvin- Admin]

8 minutes ago, NARMAK said:

Think this should be pinned at the top. 

I do get maybe some aren't as comfortable asking certain questions on their main account though for fear of possibly being judged. 

It’s almost always someone using a duplicate account to be overly aggressive or to badmouth a clinic. 

[makehairgreatagain]

Can we also crack down on duplicate or repeated questions? It's really annoying to see the same questions asked over and over when it's already been discussed at length or there's an answer/solution. Not to mention it's probably just taking up extra space to manage.

[Melvin- Admin]

42 minutes ago, makehairgreatagain said:

Can we also crack down on duplicate or repeated questions? It's really annoying to see the same questions asked over and over when it's already been discussed at length or there's an answer/solution. Not to mention it's probably just taking up extra space to manage.

Yea, I will be removing duplicate threads and questions. 

[Hayden87]

3 hours ago, makehairgreatagain said:

Can we also crack down on duplicate or repeated questions? It's really annoying to see the same questions asked over and over when it's already been discussed at length or there's an answer/solution. Not to mention it's probably just taking up extra space to manage.

Could you please recommend a good clinic in Turkey? 😆

[sl]

Well done Melvin, it is mostly shills. It is sad that people have to resort to this rather than letting a volume of work or educational posts and videos be tools to promote and also give back to the forum and users. They are more obsessed with attacking others because by default they have none of the above so this is the only option. Very easy to spot and well done for doing it.  Nothing new under the sun, as Solomon said..

[Gatsby]

I actually don’t know how people get the time? I struggle as it is with just being ‘Gatsby!?’ 🤣

[sl]

You are visible and genuine from A to Z...they have totally different motives and always hidden.

[Fue3361]

I've never been a huge fan of cutting down on duplicate threads unless the forums are extremely active.  It can be quite alienating to new users and can cause them to leave out of frustration (illogical frustration sure, but it's a thing).

But duplicate accounts, sounds good, obliterate them all!

[makehairgreatagain]

2 hours ago, Fue3361 said:

I've never been a huge fan of cutting down on duplicate threads unless the forums are extremely active.  It can be quite alienating to new users and can cause them to leave out of frustration (illogical frustration sure, but it's a thing).

But duplicate accounts, sounds good, obliterate them all!

It's common practice to search on a forum before asking a question. How many times can "finasteride vs dutasteride", "FUE vs FUT", "who is the best surgeon for the absolute cheapest price" be answered?

[Fue3361]

I don’t really disagree, but activity keeps a forum alive, and the average person going to a forum does not necessarily understand forum etiquette.  I’d much rather be patient with them and respond, than potentially alienate them and cause them to leave without answers.

 

 Not to mention older generations in their 50s or 60s who probably had a hard time even finding this place and have no idea how to properly even search for old topics.

[Rahal Hair Transplant]

Just my two cents for what it’s worth. If you’re referring to duplicate questions in a sense that the same poster has created the same exact topic with the same exact questions or comments under multiple forum categories then I 100% percent agree.  In this case, I think the best move may be to merge the topics into a single one and then posting a reply to the thread encouraging the member not to create duplicate topics.

On the other hand, if by duplicate questions, we are referring to distinct posters asking very similar questions because they’d rather interact with the community rather than use the search feature, then in my personal opinion,  this should not only be allowed but encouraged. After all, the purpose of a discussion forum is for members to interact and discuss topics with one another even if the same topic has been brought up before.  That way, members can freely express their own and unique opinions and others reading and can see unique perspectives

 Obviously the above is just my two cents  and my opinion.  I hope is taken constructively as that’s my objective :-).

Rahal Hair Transplant. 

[Fue3361]

54 minutes ago, Rahal Hair Transplant said:

Just my two cents for what it’s worth. If you’re referring to duplicate questions in a sense that the same poster has created the same exact topic with the same exact questions or comments under multiple forum categories then I 100% percent agree.  In this case, I think the best move may be to merge the topics into a single one and then posting a reply to the thread encouraging the member not to create duplicate topics.

On the other hand, if by duplicate questions, we are referring to distinct posters asking very similar questions because they’d rather interact with the community rather than use the search feature, then in my personal opinion,  this should not only be allowed but encouraged. After all, the purpose of a discussion forum is for members to interact and discuss topics with one another even if the same topic has been brought up before.  That way, members can freely express their own and unique opinions and others reading and can see unique perspectives

 Obviously the above is just my two cents  and my opinion.  I hope is taken constructively as that’s my objective :-).

Rahal Hair Transplant. 

Absolutely agreed.

I can't tell you how many people on reddit I've told "go to hairrestorationnetwork.com and ask over there" for questions such as "what's a good clinic for my x/y case".  These are questions that have been asked many times, but I'd rather they ask again here, get real answers, then get random quality answers on reddit that may ruin their lives.

If they came here and were told "your thread has been deleted, do your homework", I'm sure this would be a bad thing for the forums on every metric down the line.

[ciaus]

I agree about the duplicate accounts, and the 'new' accounts that try to stoke paranoia around hairloss medication are annoying too.

On the repeat questions, along with being too lazy or unaware of searching, I think alot of it is worried guys that just want to be assured by hearing the answer directly and now. There's some validity to the engagement/interaction point made by @Rahal Hair Transplant too.

 

Maybe some progress can be made by adding an automated search that runs when they submit their new topic. It would suggest existing discussions that match the proposed topic title and content. Then they would have to scroll go down past those search matches and click the button to go ahead and still post their new thread. And its still a good idea to go back and delete some of the duplicate topics, to optimize forum search and performance in general.

Edited March 24, 2022 by ciaus

[Melvin- Admin]

Generally, I leave duplicate topics alone, but there’s times where posters continually post the same topic over and over. I will archive duplicates and remind posters that they can always bump the thread for further comments. It can be seen as spamming posting the same thing over and over. I don’t believe this can be seen as actual activity and engagement. 

However, there are common questions and topics, if different users post the same question I don’t mind answering it. I do my best to pin FAQ’s, but the reality is that people want to be given information and not necessarily seek it. Hence, why so many fall for hair mill marketing. 

[gillenator]

Most of the time it’s a SHILL with obvious crooked motives!