Has anybody else experienced RallyPoint merging your discussion with the loss of all of your responses?

LTC Stephen F. — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 17:05:35 -0400

[Update - this month [October 2015] I have had a number of discussions merged.
Thankfully one merge brought in all responses to a similar question.
Today I had a discussion merged with itself apparently.
I deliberately try to develop unique questions and frequently use survey questions to ensure my intent is clear. Many times my efforts are successful. This week has not been a very successful welk when dealing with RallyPoint for many reasons.]
I have only been a member for a few months but I have started many discussions. Every now and then an administrator merges my question into another one with a general message about checking previous discussions.
To be honest that is pretty irritating response. When I start a discussion I usually have not seen anything about that question on RallyPoint. I rely on the question formulation process which usually suggests other questions which have been asked.
1. I discovered that the question my question was merged into from 17 months ago about RallyPoint modification ideas was already being considered and was apparently on the list of future modifications. I went back to my profile page and confirmed nothing had been done in that area.
2. My question and the responses I received were not included in the merged question. It seems my question was deleted and I was redirected to the question. Therefore I copied the text of my earlier question into the merged question and notified the respondents that the questions had been merged.
3. Is my experience somewhat unique to me or have others experienced it? I hope the good idea fairy has not been told to buzz off in this area.

Response by Sgt Jay Jones made Jun 13 at 2015 5:40 PM

Sgt Jay Jones — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 17:40:21 -0400

Yes!

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 13 at 2015 7:27 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 19:27:40 -0400

As admins, and anyone can request to be one after meeting the eligibility requirements (see this link http://support.rallypoint.com/customer/portal/articles/1492472-member-administrators) part of the job is to merge discussions that ask the same questions, possibly worded slightly differently and/or are looking for the same responses. The goal is to streamline the number of discussions and avoid duplication of effort. I have had discussions merged on me as well and believe me the intent is not malicious. If a lower level admin closes a discussion, a higher level admin can re-open it if they feel the closed discussion was not a duplicate so there are checks and balances built into the system. A discussion can be closed and any responses moved or dropped by the admin - its a judgment call. The person who's discussion is closed does not lose any points gained from opening the discussion or responses made to it.

Yes it does list the admin who took action on the post. Admins come from among the membership and are given basic guidelines on the functions to perform, you can refer to the link for more info. Right now I am a 1-star admin and am limited to closing duplicate treads and editing question tags. The latter is always helpful because it adds discussions to groups in an effort to get the question seen by more members who may not always look at new discussions but only look at groups they are interested in. Say you started a survey and did not add additional tags. An admin can add additional tags to get that discussion channeled better. As one learns more and does a good job you can advance to more admin responsibilities as the RP staff see fit.

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Response by PO2 Steven Erickson made Jun 14 at 2015 12:06 AM

PO2 Steven Erickson — Sun, 14 Jun 2015 00:06:32 -0400

Nah. Most of my stuff is ignored, so no one cares enough to mess with it!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 22 at 2015 2:48 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 14:48:59 -0400

It seems to be hit or miss. I've seen a few topics recently that made me wonder if the poster even looked for something similar before posting - ie. VCTP / IVMF.

Response by Sgt Kelli Mays made Oct 22 at 2015 3:05 PM

Sgt Kelli Mays — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 15:05:05 -0400

yep