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In case you didn't know, whenever you post the exact same answer as was already posted, it gets converted to a comment.

I had no idea before I posted a crack on a cops-and-robbers post that someone had posted 5s before.

I didn't know what happened before someone asked me why I commented on the question. I was confused for a bit until I figured it out.

While this may make sense for a Q&A site, it doesn't make sense for PPCG. 99% of the time, 2 people had the same idea at the same time.

Here's what I'm proposing:

When you post a duplicate answer, this message appears:

Your answer is an exact duplicate of another answer. Please edit your answer if you would like to post it.

If this gets enough votes, I will post this to mother meta.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Relevant. \$\endgroup\$
    – Martin Ender
    Jul 25, 2017 at 12:14
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Do we really want answers that are exact duplicates? In the case of cracks there should only ever be one crack. In the case of other answers I see no point in having two of the same answer. I think this behavior makes just as much sense for a QA site as it does PPCG. \$\endgroup\$
    – Wheat Wizard Mod
    Jul 25, 2017 at 14:47
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    \$\begingroup\$ @programmer5000 This is something I agree with. Silently converting to comments doesn't seem like a good idea. However I don't see why this is the way it is for any site. I don't think this is site specific. Perhaps you should bring it up with the mother meta. \$\endgroup\$
    – Wheat Wizard Mod
    Jul 25, 2017 at 15:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ I, for one, agree. \$\endgroup\$
    – NoOneIsHere
    Jul 25, 2017 at 16:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ I fell it's usually hard for program to decide what's exact duplicate. Maybe some explaining expression that don't effect at all. \$\endgroup\$
    – l4m2
    Apr 13, 2018 at 6:31

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1
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This now provides a warning when posting a duplicate rather than automatically taking action on behalf of the user without properly making it clear to them.

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