# Quick question: merging threads **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 11, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359 "2003-02-11T15:50:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/1 "2003-02-11T15:50:40Z")
Is there a built in function in vBullitin for merging threads or do you do it manually? Is it a real PITA to do cos I don’t see merged threads that often so I assume that some mods just cant be bothered doing it. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/2 "2003-02-11T16:47:11Z")
It’s possible to merge threads automatically. But I imagine if the mods went around merging threads willy-nilly it would be very time consuming. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/3 "2003-02-11T19:03:54Z")
Heh. I’m still planning to merge MPSIMS into one giant thread. Wouldn’t _that_ be fun? ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/4 "2003-02-11T19:20:40Z")
Have the mods ever merged a thread? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/5 "2003-02-11T21:11:54Z")
I know that **bibliophage** has merged a few threads, in cases where it got accidentally double-posted and both copies got replies. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done by any other mod, and **bib** seemed to be on an insane-amount-of-free-time-available-for-modding kick at the time. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/6 "2003-02-11T22:34:11Z")
I’ve merged a couple in MPSIMS when it seemed appropriate - two front page threads on the same topic started by different members (usually a breaking news item), or in instances of double-posted threads with replies to both. The merge function inserts all posts from the object thread (including the OP) in chronological order into the target thread. That sounds nifty, but if a conversation has gone on too long it can look kinda weird when a second conversation is dropped into it at odd places. Makes both conversations a bit disjointed. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/7 "2003-02-12T01:22:20Z")
So why don’t the mods make a mention that the threads were merged to give people a heads up and an explanation for why parts of the combined thread may seem disjointed? Maybe you do, but I’ve never seen it. Of course with as wacky as some threads get around here I probably assumed any disjointedness was just par for the course. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/8 "2003-02-12T02:42:21Z")
Every merged thread I’ve seen (and it was done to one of mine, buy **UncaB** , I believe) has both had a note from the mod to the effect that it’s the product of a merge and had that disjointed conversation feel. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/9 "2003-02-12T04:16:35Z")
I’ve done it a number of times over on the Pizza Parlor, most recently with a thread started by **cjhoworth** on an issue that fit into a series of threads that we were doing up on a month-by-month basis. There is a vBB option for doing it, but it’s just a mite tricky, and it does consume significant server resources to do it. Also, and this was important in the case I cited, there’s no way to supersede the in-chronological-order-by-date-stamp sequence of posts – which meant that the new thread I started and incorporated **cj** ’s thread into claimed to have been started by her – I e-mailed her with apologies and an explanation! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/10 "2003-02-12T15:13:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course with as wacky as some threads get around here I probably assumed any disjointedness was just par for the course. This is probably true far more often than merged threads go unnoted. As stated right here, it’s something we only do rarely. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/11 "2003-02-12T15:18:51Z")
Here’s an excellent example: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104128](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104128) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/12 "2003-02-12T23:57:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > But I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done by any other mod… You wound me. It doesn’t happen too often, partly because if the boards are weird enough people are double-posting or multi-posting threads (_and_ at least two of the threads have gotten actual replies), the board may be too weird to allow for a process as evidently hamster-intensive as merging threads. But yeah, we do it from time to time, generally with a quick note to that effect in the new Frankenthread. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/13 "2003-02-13T00:45:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MEBuckner \* > **hamster-intensive** Heh. This little phrase makes me think there’s potentially a whole lot of “hamster” derivations waiting to be coined. Mega-hamsters, hamster-bytes, hamster cycles, hamsterbase… “Your post count sometimes doesn’t update because we’re having a hamster stack overflow.” Heh. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/14 "2003-02-13T05:23:16Z")
> [@](#): > > “Your post count sometimes doesn’t update because we’re having a hamster stack overflow.” Curse you, **Cervaise**!! Your comment just above jarred from the recesses of my memory where it was deservedly buried the day I was babysitting Jordan and he insisted on watching Hamtaro, where the hamsters were attempting to get a very pretty star overhead, and climbed up on each other’s backs… Aaaiieiiieeeeee!!! May a hundred tortures harvested at random from particularly invective-filled Pit posts descend upon you!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/15 "2003-02-13T20:50:31Z")
> [@](#): > > You wound me. Hey, I didn’t know that the Mod-bots were wind-up! Let’s see if this works… _turns the big metal key in **MEBuckner** ’s side a few times, and watches him run around the room_ Cool! But seriously, I presume that most of the cases where you’ve done this are in GD, and I spend a vanishingly small amount of time there. My having only seen this done by bib is mostly a selection effect from hanging out in GQ. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/16 "2003-02-14T04:26:52Z")
**Mod-er-a-tor’s Note:** Please re-view the fo-rum de-scrip-tions lo-ca-ted on the in-dex page. Al…so please re…view… our… Fre… quent… ly… Asked… Ques… tions… threads… lo… ca… ted… in… our… A… Bout… This… Mes… sage… Board… fo… rum. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/17 "2003-02-14T04:34:16Z")
Ladies and Gentlemen, You have just witnessed a Moderator Meltdown. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-question-merging-threads/154359/18 "2003-02-14T06:47:36Z")
So, are we gonna let the dog bury it now?