# Is it possible to have two threads in one forum with exactly the same name? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 14, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378 "2004-06-14T22:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/1 "2004-06-14T22:56:11Z")
:dubious: :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/2 "2004-06-14T23:03:50Z")
Sure. Why not? vB doesn’t verify the exclusivity of titles. The mods might not let both live for long, however. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/3 "2004-06-14T23:08:00Z")
Sure. Each thread created is assigned a unique ThreadID number, and that’s how they’re indexed in the database. In the data I’ve collected for last year, there are (with a quick glance) 15 threads in ATMB with just the word “test” as their titles – and these are all capitalized the same, too. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/4 "2004-06-14T23:09:29Z")
It is also not uncommon for threads to double-post. In fact, there’s at least one such thread in the BBQ Pit as we speak: [My hopes for Graduation are slipping away (multi-pit)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=261577) [My hopes for Graduation are slipping away (multi-pit)](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=261574) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/5 "2004-06-14T23:33:06Z")
Damn, I forgot about double posts. they are almost proof that it can be done. I just had this vague reccolection of seeing the phrase “A thread with that title already exists in this forum” somewhere. It must’ve been on another board or in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/6 "2004-06-14T23:43:30Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I just had this vague reccolection of seeing the phrase “A thread with that title already exists in this forum” somewhere. It must’ve been on another board or in my head. Quite likely you have seen that phrase, but it was probably human-generated, not vB. The mods have been known to combine similar threads, but that kinda messes up the post sequencing. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/7 "2004-06-14T23:45:53Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Damn, I forgot about double posts. they are almost proof that it can be done. “Almost”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/8 "2004-06-15T00:40:09Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > “Almost”? 😕 Well technically in vb3 you aren’t even supposed to be able to double-post, but it still happens, so by ‘almost’ I mean that double posts can happen, but are not supposed to, so two threads with the same name may be able to happen under the same circumstances (assuming they are not supposed to happen, which is false) Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/9 "2004-06-15T00:45:31Z")
[Is it possible to have two threads in one forum with exactly the same name?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=261588) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/10 "2004-06-15T00:46:34Z")
[Yes](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4965996#post4965996) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/11 "2004-06-15T00:46:49Z")
😃 So it is. you. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/12 "2004-06-15T00:48:09Z")
Apparantly, yes. Please close this **test only** thread. . ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/13 "2004-06-15T04:13:07Z")
To add to the confusion, I merged both threads. Strangely, the merge function seems to have appended one thread to the other. I think I remember that the previous versions of vB used to insert the posts according to their time stamp, but I’m not too sure. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/14 "2004-06-15T04:16:15Z")
Oh, well… I see that the posts in the test thread were all made after the posts in this original thread. So it probably did insert them according to time stamps. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2004, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/15 "2004-06-15T04:21:01Z")
Ok, I did a test of starting two threads with the same title and same OP. I got this message: **This thread is a duplicate of a thread that you have posted in the last five minutes. You will be redirected to the thread listings.** So, apparently, if you try to double submit your thread, it won’t allow you. However, when I changed the OP and left the thread title the same, it allowed the new thread. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/16 "2004-06-16T01:31:17Z")
> [@xash](#): > > To add to the confusion, I merged both threads. Or to put it another way: No, we won’t allow two threads with the same name ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-have-two-threads-in-one-forum-with-exactly-the-same-name/250378/17 "2004-06-16T16:58:37Z")
> [@xash](#): > > To add to the confusion, I merged both threads. Glad you cleared that up because I thought something weird was going on when I did a name search I knew that I’d posted in both, but my posts appeared to be in the same thread. Turns out they now are! cool. **Peter Morris** I don’t think **xash** is saying they won’t allow it. I think he’s just testing for the sake of testing. (although I imagine they’ll still frown upon it)