Knowledge Aggregation

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Sometimes the same theme pops up again and again in different threads, or sometimes one persons experience is similar to another's. The entirety of posts in wrongplanet may just be continuous replication. It seems then there is a goldmine of unprocessed information.

I have an idea for an additional feature for this site.

Have a feature to link threads or posts that are similar. For example, if you see one thread that is similar to another thread then be able to link them as similar. The linking would be global, everyone could see the link you made as well as add more links. Another example is a very long thread that is too long to read and so someone posts something while somewhere in that thread someone else has posted a similar post. In this case, maybe someone will notice the similarity and then link them.

The next step is then to look at all these similar things from a higher level and create groups that formally describe it and also give it some sort of short description or name.

I believe the result will be an amazing scientific discovery.

we already HAVE that.

Go to any thread and you will see at the bottom of each page a list of "related topics". The computer focuses on key words in the title of your original post and then brings up ancient threads with similar title (not always actually similar topics, but for a computer it does a good job).

I am actually all for recycling threads. The same darn topics keep being brought up again and again (sometime ad nauseum). So why not expand upon old threads on the same topic?

The trouble is that folks will take advantage of the feature and click on an old thread with noticing HOW old it is(they do have dates on them). And they will start Yakking away on a thread that's 9 years old, and responding to a whole bevy of folks none of whom are any longer active members, and they will give advice to the original poster of a 9 year old thread about a temporary situation that the person (who left the Wrong Planet ages ago anyway) was having that moment 9 years ago.

So it is already possible, and I think its perfectly okay, to necro old thread - but only as long as you are aware and if you acknowledge that that's what you are doing (ie say "I know this is an old thread but I think that its still relevant).