When either a member or a manager tries to submit a post link that already exists in the community, they'll receive an error or warning message, respectively.
For Members
When a member submits a post and that link already exists in the community, the error message will state that the content has already been submitted, and that post will not be imported. This prevents managers from having to sort through duplicate posts when approving the post.
For Managers
A manager who creates a post with a link that has already been imported will receive a warning message that the post already exists in the community. Managers can still choose to import the duplicate post if they want. This deduplication functionality also exists when importing feeds, and is supported on both web and mobile.
Modes of Deduplication
There are two modes of post deduplication, Standard and Strict, and managers can select either mode by going to the Post Deduplication region of the Posts Default page at Admin > Advanced > Post Defaults. The default mode for the community is Standard.
Refer to the section below for the details about Standard vs Strict deduplication modes.
Standard vs Strict Deduplication Modes
The Standard duplication mode requires the full link and post title to be an exact match to be considered a duplicate post. The Strict mode only requires the base URL and the post title to match to be considered a duplicate post.
The following rules and conditions apply to the two deduplication modes:
Standard
- Prevents duplication for member submitted posts if the entire URL matches exactly with a link in the current system.
- For example, http://dynamicsignal.com/2016/07/07/learn-bmw-improving-communications-strategies/ and http://dynamicsignal.com/2016/07/07/learn-bmw-improving-communications-strategies/#.V458I22PLoc.twitter are NOT considered duplicates because the URLs are not exactly the same.
- When a member tries to submit a duplicate post, they will be shown an error message informing them of the duplicate.
- Unlike members, when a manager submits or imports a post that is a duplicate, they will have the option to bypass the warning and still submit the duplicate content.
Strict
- Prevents duplication for member submitted posts if the base URL is an exact match with a link in the current system.
- For example, http://dynamicsignal.com/2016/07/07/learn-bmw-improving-communications-strategies/ and http://dynamicsignal.com/2016/07/07/learn-bmw-improving-communications-strategies/#.V458I22PLoc.twitter are considered duplicates because their base URLs are the same.
- When a member tries to submit a duplicate post, they will be shown an error message informing them of the duplicate.
- Unlike members, when a manager submits or imports a post that is a duplicate, they will have the option to bypass the warning and still submit the duplicate content.
Feed Imported Post Deduplication
Post Deduplication for posts imported via Feeds cannot be set or changed in the Manager App, and functions like the Standard mode for Member Submitted Post deduplication.
FAQs
How far back, in date range, does the system look for deduplicating?
The date range is "all time."
If the same URL is tweeted with a different query string, is that treated as a duplicate URL or a new URL?
It will be treated as a new URL.