Merging threads

[Bigun]

I have somewhat of a beef with this.

If you have 20 people that have a different, individual issue with one single program, I personally think it is a very bad idea to post/merge it into one thread.

You end up having a thread 50 pages long, mucked up with people talking over each other and becomes extremely confusing to read in a hurry. Plus, finding a your issue in a 50 page thread, then finding the solution is an even bigger hassle. You end up having to read 26 pages just to find what you are looking for.

Just wondering what everyone else thinks about this, and if there is a better solution if some people do agree with me.

[mark_alec]

Moved from Gentoo Chat to Gentoo Forums Feedback.

I agree that currently the ultra-large-many-part threads are not particularly useful, however unless you are offering a suggestion that is better I can't see what we can do.

[Dieter@be]

however unless you are offering a suggestion that is better I can't see what we can do.

just keep every different problem in it's own topic

if there are more topics about the same problem, with the same software, they can be merged, or if there is one big topic with the solution and a new small one arises, the latter can be closed with a link to the former (this is what you guys already do afaik)

but i'm pro merging several "<software> is released", "hey check out this cool app",... threads

[Bigun]

however unless you are offering a suggestion that is better I can't see what we can do.

just keep every different problem in it's own topic

if there are more topics about the same problem, with the same software, they can be merged, or if there is one big topic with the solution and a new small one arises, the latter can be closed with a link to the former (this is what you guys already do afaik)

but i'm pro merging several "<software> is released", "hey check out this cool app",... threads

Problem with this is here:

Problem 1) Has been address 19.25 times... we merged it into one thread

Problem 2) Looks similar to problem 1, but is different... ends up getting merged then lost in the muck, never gets addressed

I'd almost say creating a temp sub-forum would be a better solution

[at240]

I think that, generally, support requests are often better kept in their own separate threads. The downside of this, though, is that they can be comparatively more difficult to locate: people title them in idiosyncratic ways, for example, and the search function doesn't always help you find what you're looking for. For all the silliness of the many-page partitioning or grub sticky threads, at least you know where to find them. If this visibility issue could be addressed, then separate threads would be a much more elegant solution, I think.

[think4urs11]

as always this depends on each individual issue aka this lies in the eye of the beholder.
I would agree that it isn't too useful to generate 'monsterthreads' with 25+ pages as the benefit would be minimal (if at all).
From what i can remember over the years the mods in general do show good common sense here.

[Beefrum]

Historically these situations ended up as an "FAQ" so we can all point to the "FUCKING MANUAL". Easier to do if it has been brought together.

[mikegpitt]

I have somewhat of a beef with this.

If you have 20 people that have a different, individual issue with one single program, I personally think it is a very bad idea to post/merge it into one thread.

You end up having a thread 50 pages long, mucked up with people talking over each other and becomes extremely confusing to read in a hurry. Plus, finding a your issue in a 50 page thread, then finding the solution is an even bigger hassle. You end up having to read 26 pages just to find what you are looking for.

I agree with this totally. The most recent one I had to wade through was the modular xorg thread, and after looking though all the pages I couldn't find my particular problem.

In same cases threads should definitely be merged, but not in cases like I just mentioned.