X posts were merged should be in target topic as well

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Improving Split Post Notifications

Drew_Warwick proposes adding a notification to the target topic when posts are merged, similar to the “X posts were merged from Y” notification currently found in the source topic. This would help prevent confusion when reading the target topic, as merged posts may seem out of context.

Drew_Warwick provides visual mockups of the current and proposed target topic layouts. LeoDavidson agrees that this addition would be useful, as it would save time and provide context when splitting or merging posts. Currently, editors often manually edit the first post to explain the merge, which can be time-consuming. An automatic indication would improve the readability of the target topic.

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We utilize the ability to move posts into different topics to help prevent topics from derailing. Examples:

  • Derailing rants that evolve into a separate feature request from the original post are split into a new topic in feature requests
  • Duplicate bug reports / feature requests get split into the original
    • rather than just unlisting, as new topic may provide addition info the original did not
  • Derailing chain of off-topic discussion gets split into a new topic in lounge

A recurring problems we’ve had with this is reading the target topic the posts were split into is weird, as it seems like the added posts are talking to someone that isn’t there. It would be nice if the topics the posts were split into had the “X posts were merged from Y” notification as well (currently only in source topic), so it’s clear why the wording may be weird.

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I’m having trouble following what you are proposing. Can you provide a visual mockup?

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Target (current):

YAnzei3.png796×790 80.1 KB

Target (proposed):

oPsImhj.png792×895 86.8 KB

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I think adding this to the target would add useful context when splitting/merging.

I often edit the first post that gets merged to say what happened, as otherwise it doesn’t always make sense next to the other posts. An automatic indication would save time.

(e.g. It starts with a repetition of the question in the root post, as if none of the other answers in the thread exist. Or it might discuss the thread it is now in as if it was a separate thread.)