Topic: How to know if my new topic has been posted by someone before (Read 300 times)

Yes, that is how things should work, but statistically, new topics still "earn" more merit points. I imagine visibility plays a role in this. New topics are new, and attract more people than they do once you've seen them.

Check out these statistics:

Top-merited recent replies
Top-merited recent topics

While most of those new hot topics that quite a lot of users start will hardly come off as zero or low value post/thread imo, i do not think the bulk of them are actually hunting for merits per se, cause if you really look at it, more established users who prolly are already up there as Hero or Legendary users are also guilty of this.

If you ask me i'd say it possibly is the desire to share the latest (mostly positive) news about Bitcoin (and sometimes general crypto stuff) to the community, as a result of that, it skips their mind to check if another user prolly beat them to it (seeing the news first and had already posted such), not a big deal anyway, we could always point them to the first topic on the issue and request they lock theirs, which they mostly oblige.

The believe that 'new topics' get more merits is also incorrect in my opinion, what gets merits is constructive posts/threads, if the new topic is constructed properly, with correct facts that is of help here then it gets the merits it deserves, if it does not, and is redundant, then it gets nothing (just being a 'new topic' for the sake of it is not a criteria for merits). On the other hand if regular posts imbibe all of the characteristics i just mentioned then it would get the merits; but all of these still depends on if MS/users who like the post and want to merit it see it.

I guess some of those members are simply trying to hunt for merits in that way. In general, new topics are rewarded with more merits than regular posts, so some believe that every big (and not so big) news is a reason to start a new topic. While I am personally opposed to such a practice, there is currently no forum rule prohibiting it. Unless, of course, "No zero or low value posts or threads."

It's very simple to know. Charles Tim has given you the methodology for bitcointalk community here, so with that of his explanation you will notice if the topics you are about to Post has be posted or not. You can equally find out through Google if you want to use Google, just type bitcointalk on Google

To be honest, not only newbies are guilty of that, opening a topic without checking if there is already an active one. Its more like a rule on the forum whenever some big news come out, several topics about the same subject and often in the same board.


Yep, couple of days ago he opened up a topic about Central African Republic and bitcoin while there were several other topics about the same matter so I suggested him to check before opening a new one. I should have mentioned him the ways to check those as well, but its good that he is slowly figuring things out and asking the right questions.

Yes, most likely this newbie has already experienced some experience of publishing the same topics and heard the comments of other users. Based on your first post, the OP, I think that it was he who prompted you to ask about the uniqueness of the topics. But in addition to your post, it would also be nice to include a link to where you got the information from.

And henceforth, such simple answers as the number of posts for a newbie could also be found on your own.

At the forum, it is not the quantity that matters but the quality, which you will soon see.

I tend to agree with all replies above and that's right, spend time searching before posting or creating topics.

That's why isn't ideal for newbies to create a thread because you don't know if it's already existed topic.  Spend time first reading sticky topics or pinned topics above for every board because it has important content that should each new members learn.  Spend at least 1 week or more before deciding to post anything to avoid violating the rules.

BTW, I like the behavior of this newbie, it cares about forum rules which is a good start to being an established member.

It's really joyful to know there are still newbies who care about the forum rules!
Regarding your question, I see that many members have suggested using the forum search engine. According to my experience, it's not really helpful especially if you don't know for example on which board to search, the user who wrote the post, when it was posted... If you are going to use it, make sure to use "Google search" on the top as it will give you more accurate results.

Anyway, don't worry too much about this and don't let it stop you from contributing to this forum or asking questions because in case you post a duplicate topic someone will notice it and inform you about it just like what happened with your first topic.

There is no limit to which a particular topic or thread can be posted on the forum, because every new post no matter whether it has been posted or not always comes with a unique different idea from a different author you can always learn from. Because to be afraid not to make mistake is actually the biggest mistake one can ever do.

Life is no bed of roses, so it is in making mistakes that we learn to be perfect, so as long as you are obeying the forum rules, go exploit your God given potentials

It is ideal to use the search icon in the right corner of our forum also we have two platforms for the different contents you want we have the created by TryNinja or and the archive created by LoyceV too the those are both recommended for searching a topic if you want to avoid duplication of contents. Also the google exist too most of the time i do the "keyword/topic + bitcointalk.org" if i want to look something and need to check if the topic is exist already.

The forum search option is suggested before creating a new topic so the OP can avoid double topics, but as long as there are other tools like ninjastic.space then I'm sure the OP and other users can also use them to find out if it already exists or not. I recommend ninjastic.space because it's good and faster than forum search options, but the accuracy depends on the keywords you're looking for.

But to be honest, I very rarely find a newbie wanting to use the search option when they start a new topic. But I'm sure you're not the only one who noticed that in the first place.

Yes you can, but since ninjastic.space archives only posts written on the forum you can only use it to check if someone copied someone else's post so it won't be too effective as majority of those caught for plagiarism copy external texts. It's very good for identifying alt accounts though as you can also look for addresses, if you are into that sort of thing.

OP, so long as you do not plagiarize in any form...i don't think you will be penalised for expressing yourself in a post the way you can and your original point of view, someone new who did not come across such a discussion at that time may be learning from you.

Even after using the search option and finding out that something you wanted to discuss has been already introduced, you can preview those topics to see if there is an updated information on it that will be beneficial to forum that you will like to reintroduce. knowledge is dynamic, so most times, there are always new things to learn from a topic.

Easiest and the most convenient way of knowing is by utilizing the search bar located on the top right hand corner. Just search some keywords or the subject of your thread to know if a topic has been posted before. Usually, there are moderators who delete repetitive threads and there are also some forum members who report such thread for being considered as a "spam."

There are two types of forum search. When I didn't notice I was using the normal forum search most times I won't get desired result. Not until I discovered forum search powered by Google. So, even if you are searching with Google and end your search with ".bitcointalk.org" extension, it will take you to the forum.

I have never tried this before, can I use it to search for plagiarism?

If you use good keywords and know how to search effectively, you can find many available answers for your questions.

You should read them first, because by doing so you will improve your knowledge. Then if you still need something more, don't satisfy with available answers, you can join those discussions, in or beyond the forum, or create your own topic to ask about your issue.

• [Guide] Searching effectively

That is same with many and especially for newbies they can't explore it in much effective way because the forum search gives out messed up results and you can't completely understand about that topic.So yes ninjastic.space is useful for the same and you can have much more detailed information about forum posts, users,threads from it.

The members can do is put the relevant keywords in the search bar and search between 30 to 365 days most probably not going too back and selection of some major boards and then check the relevancy matching to keywords like 50% ,60% or less this way they can filter out the search but that's also too complicated and results are so many posts you can't have a look on.

The other way best as suggested is Google search with bitcointalk.org at last and you will have most of the threads on the first page so simple explore them in best way you can.

When I search for something on the forum (whatever it may be), I resort to either (or both of):

- Searching with Google, using the site delimiter as mentioned in the above post. That sometimes has the advantage of searching for similar words to those you feed into the search string, as opposed to the forum’s search feature, which is more literal.

- The forum’s "advanced" search function, placing the appropriate parameters.

See for example this post, paying special attention to the keywords you choose, how they are going to be interpreted (and, or; quotes), the time frame (i.e. last x days may be a good option to include) and the sort order (newest first may be more handy, but it depends on what you really need).

Another option is to use the Google search under magnifying glass near the search box above or you can do it manually by going to google.com and then type this below

Sample this one

It should show all the same topic with your topic.

Plagiarism is also not allowed so make sure not to copy-paste any article from here or outside of this forum.

In most cases it is worth to go through the first few pages of the appropriate board to see which topics are already being discussed. Just read the titles to know what they are about. Searching can help but sometimes you won't guess the right keywords so you won't be able to find the topic you're looking for.

If the topic is not discussed on the first few pages of the board, then either it does not exist yet or the topic is outdated so there is no problem to open a new discussion with similar content.