From time to time a node is posted that bears a strong resemblance to a node, or nodes, seen pinned to the walls of the Monastery in some far off corner. When such a node appears it is often followed by a few muttered imprecations, or howls of outrage, to the effect that "we have seen this before" (and a -- frenzy, but that is of minor import).

But is it really a Bad Thing™ to post duplicate material?

The mix of those wandering the corridors comprise a good number of old hands (who likely have seen the material before and understand the issue in any case), and a bunch of new faces eager for enlightenment who haven't discovered the magic doors Search and Super Search.

PerlMonks generally has a fairly large proportion of initiates and novices wandering the coridors. They are not experienced in the ways of the Monastery and often can not search effectively or make good use of the other resources available here. This is a direct reason for duplicate posts: they don't know any better and haven't managed to find the previous material. Is this a problem? If it is, it is a site problem and not something we should be thumping our new life-blood for not understanding. Bear in mind too that if one person is motivated enough to post, there are probably others who find the information timely.

How about an experienced monk who does all the right things, then chooses to post a duplicate node because the times have changed and new information is available or a new perspective is provided. Is this a problem? Absolutely not! New information and keeping up with change are to be encouraged.

Or the same monk who searched, but failed to find the previous material? Again not a problem. If one experienced monk failed in a search, there are bound to be others who have the same problem. Consider it as another search key, and remember to provide links to the previous material.

None of these scenarios are cause for concern. What other reasons might there be? The storage requirements for text associated with nodes is generally very modest - no reason there.

So many posts you can't read them all? That's a sign that PerlMonks is doing a good job, but is hardly a reason to reject duplicate posts. You should learn to filter things a little perhaps, or you may accidentally end up learning something you didn't intend to.

OP was obviously just copying another node? Well, maybe that's a problem. If it's word for word then maybe copyright kicks in and you can do your downvote thing. Otherwise it's likely just "time to railroad".

So, if you have seen it before, wander off to the remote corner where you saw it, make a map and pin it to the bottom of the new node. Without wishing to duplicate another node: if you do locate a previous node and post a link to it, post your search terms too.

Duplicate nodes are not the issue. The more important thing is to link to related material elsewhere to leverage the information provided in the new node and make our rich plethora of material as accessible as possible. After all, where would Paco be if no one ever referenced his seminal node?

Update: fix the seminal node link

DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel

In reply to It's been said before and it'll be said again by GrandFather

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