Apology: I know this has been discussed before, but it doesn't seem to be posted as an idea. I think it would be useful, and I have a couple of ideas on how to make it work. (Plus I was spurred on by st3f to post this, so I know I'm not alone. So st3f should get some of the, er, credit.)

Concept: A page listing ideas that are regularly posted and deleted, giving reasons for deletion and if applicable references to similar ideas on the 1/2bakery, or external URLs.

Utility: A small portion of bakers might check the page first, though I hold no particular hope of this. However, if someone did post an idea included on the list, we could simply list to the FPI page, rather than go into a detailed rebuttal. This would save regular users time, and hopefully help out the person who posted the idea as well. It would also act as a reference to regularly-posted ideas that have been deleted and can't be seen by users.

How you can help: I realise this will mean work for Jutta (I'm not sure if she has any moral/philosophical objections as well). To simplify creation of such a page, you, my fellow halfbakers, could annotate sample entries for the list here, and post appropriate links below. We could link duplicate ideas to here, although it would not be as easy to understand as a dedicated, properly-organised page.

We could organise such a page ourselves, without Jutta, with judicious editing of annos and an appropriate idea name and description saying why ideas had been linked to the page. But let's have some feedback on what we need before we start to implement it.

This idea originated with the Gympower idea, for generating energy from exercise machines, about which UnaBubba commented: "Shit, we must get one of these a month."
-- pottedstu, Nov 10 2001

Self-Powered Health Clubs http://www.halfbake...ed_20Health_20Clubs
Often duplicated. [pottedstu, Nov 10 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Dream recorder http://www.halfbake...ea/Dream_20Recorder
Erm. My first contribution. [stupop, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

worst10 http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/worst10
A listing of the most fishboned ideas on the hb. For some reason this seems to crop up fairly frequently. The idea was posted before you could do this yourself with the hb user interface. [st3f, Nov 02 2004]

Charging people based on bodyweight. Fat_20people_20rows_20in_20coach
I think I've seen a few ideas based along the principle of 'if you take up more room you should pay more' so I thought I'd add this to the list. [st3f, Dec 14 2006]

Excellent idea.

In a similar vein, what about redirecting visitors to either a Frequently Posted Ideas page or the [help] page after sign-up rather than the front page?

Another thing that seems to pop up every now and again is a variation on the theme of mind-reading: Hair Midget, Mood-a-Matic, ...
-- cp, Nov 11 2001


It is hard to search the HalfB because the language used in many ideas isn't what I would think to search under. Example: "Stud Fixins" for body pierced anchor points, etc. I got tripped up by that one last week.
-- bristolz, Nov 11 2001


I'm with UnaBubba on this (though I found his explanation wordy & over-complex) for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, most of the offenders seem to be oblivious to searches of any kind. I doubt that they would consult the 'Frequently posted..." page, even if you linked to it. There are exceptions, as bristolz points out, but they are easily dealt with by the normal method.
Secondly, if you're going to link to something, why not link to the original idea so that it's creator gets some credit (or not) & the offender can see the whole annotation history?
Thirdly, I find it quite interesting to try & find the original idea myself and follow the thread through. He who does not re-read learns nothing!
Fourthly, I really, really enjoy flaming the newbies and this would remove the only paper-thin justification for it that I can muster.
-- DrBob, Nov 12 2001


Gympower, cute name. Gone now, autodeletion. pottedstu Good sentiment. ? simply archive deletions for a period or to a maximum volume.

YES it's true, I've duplicated lately. In retrospect and with the gentle guidance from early annotators I currently believe there were adequate search resources but I was too excited about posting and too lazy to search.

Restatements of old ideas may occasionally shed crucial splinters of new light on the old chestnut.
-- peter2, Nov 12 2001


"Hey, I've got this great idea for a device that, like, records your dreams, right, and, like, I don't know exactly how it would work, but..."
-- Guy Fox, Nov 14 2001


A point for [bristolz]: the search function here searches not only ideas' names, but the corresponding descriptions as well. So if one has an idea, say, to make the Earth rotate in the direction opposite to what it does now, and calls it "Pencil Flags," it will still be searchable by typing in "earth rotation."

It's just laziness, or perhaps exuberance, that makes people post without searching. No cure for those conditions, I don't think...

Duplicate ideas get scorched and go away. It's not the end of the world.
-- snarfyguy, Nov 15 2001


Got rid of that nasty fishbone for you--wish I would have seen this earlier. Halfway-good idea.
-- zaphod12, Nov 30 2001


Occasionally the HB will throw up something you'll never expect to see. For example, about a year ago I posted an idea about giant decorative hats to put on your house without bothering to search (under the belief that nobody could have thought of something that ridiculous before). Anywhere else I'd have probably been right. However, most other places don't have [po].
-- hidden truths, Dec 14 2006



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