In a discussion about handling duplicate topics, Jane_Jojo seeks guidance on best practices for moderators to mark duplicates, notify authors, and optionally close or merge topics. Lilly shares their forum’s approach: moderators merge reply posts into the original topic (excluding identical first posts), close duplicates, and privately message the topic creator. They also handle system-generated duplicates similarly. not-ethan describes Replit’s method: merging topics with added value into the original, or adding a staff note and closing others as signposts that link to the original. Jane_Jojo asks for an example, and not-ethan provides a link to a Replit topic where a duplicate is closed with a signpost linking to the original. Jane_Jojo inquires about the top-posting technique shown in an image, prompting Lilly to explain that the staff notice option is accessible via the wrench icon (found in the post’s hidden menu alongside flag and bookmark icons). The conversation highlights that approaches vary by forum, but common tools include merging, closing with signposts, and notifying users via PM or staff notes. Lilly also demonstrates quoting a previous post to clarify the process.
Surprisingly I couldn’t find a good answer to this on meta. The one I found was Duplicate/Should Have Searched flags
What’s the right way for a moderator to mark a topic as duplicate, let the topic author know, and possibly close the topic referring to the right topic?
on my forum, our moderators merge the topic and posts to the existing one. if the first post is identical we don’t move that one, we just close it. either way the topic creator is also pm’d to let them know. i think each forum may have different ways of doing this. we also have system generated topics that can sometimes be duplicates and we close those and merge any reply posts into one.
On replit ask ones that provide additional value we merge into the original. Otherwise we add a staff note and close the topic as a signpost.
Can you show me an example of this from replit? Does the signpost link to the merge/old one?
if you click the wrench below any post you will see an option to leave a staff notice.
Here is one Replit Community | Connect. Build. Ship.
The signpost is the duplicate and it links to the original.
just like this. 
the wrench icon is in the … hidden part under a post where the flag and bookmark icon are.
