# cross-linking OP's

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [December 16, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330 "2003-12-16T16:24:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330/1 "2003-12-16T16:24:22Z")

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I know it is common practice for a thread to start with an OP that is linked to another thread. Is it OK to start two cross-referenced threads?

IOW, I have two closely-related questions about a recent news story. One part of the question is factual, and appropriate to GQ, but the other part is clearly GD material. Should I start two threads, each referencing the other, or one thread?

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330/2 "2003-12-16T17:17:51Z")

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Wait, forget it, I realized that you can’t do that unless you could predict the post and thread ID’s the server would assign.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330/3 "2003-12-16T19:08:39Z")

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I believe that posting on the same topic in more than one forum is frowned upon. If I were you, I’d just stick to GD with your thread.

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330/4 "2003-12-16T19:56:32Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by paperbackwriter \*  
> \*\*IOW, I have two closely-related questions about a recent news story. One part of the question is factual, and appropriate to GQ, but the other part is clearly GD material. \*\*

This is what leads me to believe it could be construed to be cross-posting across forums, **universal sufferant** – a single news story, spawning two questions, same poster.

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**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cross-linking-ops/219330/5 "2003-12-17T00:56:18Z")

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What you do is start thread A. Then you start thread B with a link to thread B. Then you run back to thread A and reply with a link to thread B. If you did it quick so as to be the first reply, it would look natural.