[SOLVED] A cross post thread suggestion

Would it be possible to do the equivalent of a symlink for threads? Essentially allowing the thread to appear in multiple forums for greater exposure or relevancy but the forums all reference the same thread. It would help reduce the multiple thread problems that happen now.

This is what tags are for. If you have a thread which may touch on Hardware and Software, pick one and tag it as the other. Alternatively, put it into the relevant "general" forum and if it later becomes apparent where it should go it can be moved.

That's good for someone searching for an existing answer, but I don't think tags are going to help them get people reading the various forums to look at their stuff since those readers aren't searching for tags when reading the forums.

So if in that example you posted your question to the Hardware forum, nobody in the software forums is likely to see it since they are just reading their forum not searching for tags. Pretty much they'd only run across it if they used the search forums for unread posts kind of things.

At the same time, I only look at the "View New Posts" link and so, to me, it doesn't matter which forum a thread is in...

That's how I look too, but several times I've missed that something was posted multiple times and answered on the thread where someone else had already answered on one of the other threads or the OP responses are spread amoung the threads. It just seems it'd be nice that things like that would be averted and all those threads would actually be the same thread. Less energy wasted all around since posters are all looking at the same thing and moderators aren't having to police forum cross posts (as much since I'm sure someone will still do it)

People tend to post duplicates for two main reasons:

1. It's really really really urgent (to them) and by posting in all forums they have the most chance of getting a god answer.
2. They have no idea where to post so post everywhere that seems relevant

In the first case, you end up with every one of those posts having the standard answer that "it's only urgent to you..." and they tend not to be helped for a while. In the second, the poster receives lots of advice about why they should have thought harder about where they post.

Generally, this is only an issue for new members. Anyone who has been here for a while or has lurked for a time understands that nobody will lose it if someone posts in the wrong forum and needs their thread moving. I can't really see that there is a need for it here.

Thanks for the feedback. This isn't a feature we have any definite plans to implement at this time, but we'll keep it in mind as a future enhancement.

--jeremy