Unlisted topic showing as linked topic

[Jonathan5]

I wondered why the stub was created at all but see the answer here:

What is a fully merged stub topic?

A stub topic has only a first post, and no replies. All other replies (including the first post) have been merged into another topic, so the topic exists merely as a signpost pointing to the other topic.

Is there any way of never having them created at all? The closest to that seems to be automatic deletion after one day.