# Discussing a topic with repeated official answers

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960>\
**Category:** Site feedback\
**Created:** [2014年十一月9日 01:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960 "2014-11-09T01:06:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tiptronic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/tiptronic/32/115181_2.png) [@tiptronic](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tiptronic)\
**Post date:** [2014年十一月9日 01:06 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960/1 "2014-11-09T01:06:52Z")

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hi jeff,  
just a note/question… why are you that harsh and closed the last topic without a hint?  
Don’t you want normal users to pickup on discourse? Not everybody is a Rack/Rails guru and immediately understands the workings…  
At first I was under the impression it’s all about ‘civilized discussions’.  
If I’m wrong, please let me know what went wrong.  
Cheers  
andy  
BTW: The ‘Create a new Topic’ field doesn’t update when typing (under OSX 10.10.1, Safari (latest))

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [2014年十一月9日 02:09 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960/2 "2014-11-09T02:09:58Z")

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The hint is that the same official answer was repeated multiple times. Pretty sure I said exactly that, in the topic.

When a topic has an answer repeated several times, it becomes redundant and a waste of everyone’s time for the same things to be repeated over and over. Topics like that will be closed.

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**Author:** ![TheLoneCuber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/thelonecuber/32/114988_2.png) [@TheLoneCuber](https://meta.discourse.org/u/TheLoneCuber)\
**Post date:** [2014年十一月9日 07:17 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960/3 "2014-11-09T07:17:35Z")

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In some cases it could be argued that repeated topics highlight ongoing, unaddressed user issues. It must be recognised that aged topics are often out-of-date and relevant only to days gone by, and older versions of Discourse. My Super Search Box topic got closed immediately yesterday [so I replied here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moving-the-discourse-search-box-and-making-it-functional-how/15043/8)… to an April post about the matter. But I’m mostly dark about the shutdown because it was an excellent title, a great name for what should be a default Discourse option, and I wanted the naming credits.

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**Author:** ![downey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/downey/32/166878_2.png) [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)\
**Post date:** [2014年十一月11日 00:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960/4 "2014-11-11T00:38:48Z")

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> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> When a topic has an answer repeated several times, it becomes redundant and a waste of everyone’s time for the same things to be repeated over and over. Topics like that will be closed.

One could even call it a “[frequently asked question](https://meta.discourse.org/c/faq)”… 😉

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**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)\
**Post date:** [2014年十一月11日 03:41 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discussing-a-topic-with-repeated-official-answers/21960/5 "2014-11-11T03:41:06Z")

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More like “I don’t care for the official answer so I am going to keep asking until the answer changes” 😉