Should questions tagged as duplicates because of an answer be treated different?

Question

I haven't posted in about a year so please bare with me if I'm not following proper protocol. I asked a question yesterday and immediately it was flagged as a duplicate question. I commented below why I thought it wasn't and did not directly address the user that started the VTC process because of course it wasn't anything personal, I was just voicing a complaint with the system that I probably should have posted here instead. I feel it was taken as an insult though because my question was closed with only the originator of the VTC posting that I did have a point that there was no source stated it might have just been opinion.

The issues that I'm running into is, One: the quickness that my question was voted closed even with an explanation provided by me in comment that I didn't feel the answer given in the other question had reference to support its conclusion about the subject of my question.

Two: I feel this one is more important with a site this large and with the potential for any answer to cause a duplication of question it seems that eventually there can be no new questions on a specific subject such as horcruxes or boba fett et cetera. For instance I have another question I would like to ask on the subject that doesn't seem to have been asked before but while researching I found an answer that also for two sentences states an opinion that could cause my question to be marked as duplicate. I would just link and say "it was addressed in an answer to this question but I feel this is opinion not fact any sources" (which I probably will post it as that anyways) I feel my question would still be flagged and closed as duplicate even with making this careful effort.

So is there an existing line of "well it was stated as opinion rather than sourced so it shouldn't be counted the same as fact" or does there need to be one implemented?

Answer 1

I understand the frustration when a question gets closed due to a duplicate which simply isn't good enough; an answer that, were it given to your own question, you would probably downvote, and certainly won't accept.

I don't, however, think that there needs to be any technical solution, or even a formal solution to avoid it. I think adding an explicit paragraph in your question saying "I saw the answer given to question X and I don't think it answers my question fully, and isn't well-sourced enough to count".

Having stated that clearly, you might still get closed as duplicate. In this case, though, it's because people explicitly disagree with you about that answer. And that's life, probably. :)

Answer 2

First:

Questions get closed quickly so they don't accrue poor answers. When they're clarified, they get re-opened. That part of the process is working as intended.

If your question is closed as a duplicate and you don't feel you're looking for the same answer the previous question is, you can edit your question to be more clear and then it should be re-opened. Comments are for figuring out how to improve the question, and useful information gained thereby should be incorporated into the question itself. Perhaps "This was mentioned in passing by answer X [link] on question Y, but I want more information about it than would be appropriate in an answer to question Y."

Second:

The rule of thumb that duplicate questions are defined by having duplicate answers should not be stretched to include tangential information nonspecific to the question being asked. If that is happening, you should bring it to the attention of the moderators and/or site through flagging and/or meta posts with specific links to the question and an explanation of what's going on.

We also have precedent for a series of related questions: "Answer X to my question Y mentioned Z, can I get more info about it?" If this is the kind of chain you're concerned will get closed as duplicate... see the first section about how to make such connections clear and explicit.

And if you want better answers to an existing question, call attention to the question! Just because the querent accepted an answer you think is poor doesn't mean the question's life is over: offer a bounty and explain what kind of improvement in answers you're hoping to see. Good answers will float to the top through community voting, regardless of what got accepted.

Answer 3

Flaggers
It is (should be) up to the flagger to research the duplication and make sure that their flag is valid. As you pointed out, it is definitely worth mentioning in the comments the exact reason or specific part of a question/answer which makes this one a dupe¹.
It is also up to the flagger to not go around flagging everything. I have a fairly good flagging history for the short amount of time i've been here:

so I hope mods don't just go "Oh, Mooz has flagged this, lets just accept it because he seems to know what he's doing"!

A Flagger must not be biased or show/take any offence. This is a community site, and only works (well) if used properly.

System
Incidentally, it is a limitation of the system that when you flag a question as a dupe, it doesn't care whether you post a link to a question or an answer within a question, it still posts the link to the question².

Mods
It then falls in the lap of the mods to make sure that they know what they are doing, not just closing any old question just because someone has flagged it.
I like to think that the mods on this site are fairly good at what they do.

OP
The OP then needs has the opportunity to clarify or contest the question. Which in this case you did and for what it's worth, the answer which I linked does not seem to be satisfactory.
The OP can also edit their question to make it different enough to be re-opened; which you have done, and in my opinion, the question is now different enough!

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<sup>1. I like this point and I will start to do this in future.
2. See: When I flag as dupe, can the system put the link to the answer and not the question?</sup>

Answer 4

1. Since I was the one who closed it, I'll address the speed issue.

   My judgement of whether it is a duplicate or not is 100% independent of time - only of information. If I think that the existing answer from another question answers a new question, waiting for 30 seconds or 30 days would NOT change that opinion. So, I closed quickly simply because I saw it quickly and because there was no reason to wait, not for any other reason.

2. As noted my comment to you, if you think that it was NOT a duplicate, you should post a question on Meta asking whether it was or wasn't (not THIS question that you posted, but a separate question saying XYZ was closed as duplicate of ABC. I don't believe it's a duplicate because of reasons 1, 2, 3. Am I correct? It should be specific to your question, because there's usually some specific details that may sway people's decision.

   Since I'm human and prone to error, I'm perfectly happy to reverse my vote (or have it reversed by other Gold Tag binding voters, or mods, or 5 users) if people reach a consensus on that meta post that my VTC was in error.

   Gold Badge holders were given binding VTC votes due to their deep knowledge of content already on the site, NOT their perfect judgement :)