Over-Merging of threads?

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Yeah, I see everyone's points. It's a really tough call sometimes as to whether to merge, lock, etc. threads. Threads do become really cumbersome when they have 100+ posts. In hindsight, it probably would have been better to lock the "Brunell refuses to restructure thread" and start a new thread about his restructuring.

I think when a number of identical threads are created, it can create a "merging frenzy." If I see a bunch of threads that are identical and am forced to merge them, I will be more likely to look for duplicate threads and merge them. So, the fewer identical threads that are created, the less likely it is that related threads will be merged. Of course, there's the difficult question of what constitutes a related thread (which may warrant its own thread) and an identical one (which, obviously needs to be merged).

I for one am glad this thread was started. Feedback always helps let the mods know what the members want and guides us in our decisionmaking. You guys lead us, not the other way around. I for one will now be less likely to merge threads now that members have expressed their desire not to merge too many threads.