Updating old questions

Question

I recently asked a question related to breaking the Ornate Canopic Jar during The Mummy's Curse World Change here. This was flagged as a duplicate of this question. I searched the term "Ornate Canopic Jar" and found no results which is why I originally asked the question.

I don't disagree that the content of the question is the same but my question here is what should be done in a case like this? Should the title of the original question be updated to "Ornate Canopic Jar" instead of "vase"? Should the question be retagged to include "ornate-canopic-jar". Or should it be left as is?

It seems weird to edit a question submitted by someone else from over 2 years ago but is that is what should be done?

Answer 1

If what they implied was the same thing as you it's considered a duplicate. Asking the same question in different words still makes it the same question. There's no doubt that your question was clearer, but the other question is the same so it's not fair to have 2 of the same things essentially. In my eyes, an edit to the old question is justified. I've been in the same situation as you before. However, I'm not Ellotris so maybe he can clarify things because this is just my take on it.

Answer 2

I'd say what we currently have is ideal. One question uses the official name "jar", another question uses the term "vase", which apparently is something other players use as well (400+ views on this question). Now both players looking for "vase" and "jar" will find the answer to the question because they are both linked.

I don't see the need to edit the old question in this case. Questions marked as a duplicate can be pretty helpful too.

Hope this helps answer your question :)

Comments

That does make sense. My only concern in this case is that people searching may not click my question because before even opening it you can see there are no answers and no indication this is linked to a question with an answer. I just don't know if there is a better solution.

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True - we could be smarter about displaying duplicate questions. I'll think about it!

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I don't know if any of these would be possible but some suggestions. On the search results instead of displaying 0 answers display the count of the answers on the linked question. Then mention in the "closed as a duplicate of" section that the answers can be found there.

Or an even better solution might be to allow original questions to show up in search another question that is flagged as a duplicate of them appear. For example, if I were to search "Ornate Canopic Jar" maybe my question would be the first result but the original question using the term vase could also appear in search result.

Overall this might not be an issue but in an example like this someone searching with the proper term is not able find an answer even though it exists.

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This small change should help to some extent - https://meta.tibiaqa.com/2088/direct-links-to-duplicate-questions