No, if it was a duplicate question then it was probably just deleted for being a duplicate. Nothing personal, just trying to keep things "clean" I guess. (In the non-cluttered sense)

Answerbag doesn't allow duplicate questions because they're trying to keep the database streamlined so people can access all information regarding a question in one place. So yes, it's important to check for duplicates before posting. Trolls really have nothing to do with it.

No, the question was merged with the person who originally asked the question, they dont allow duplicate questions.

Most people on here are flag happy as they are DR happy.

I'm pretty much a new comer to AB, but from my limited experience, this sounds like AB Staff action to keep the number of similar or identical questions to a minimum. Right now there are 66962 pages of questions with about 15 questions per page so there are bound to be some duplicates. Part of the question screen includes: Similar Questions Please check to see if we already have answers for you Don't be upset or anything like that, I'm still messing up. It's my understanding that a troll is an ABer that just goes in and down rates peoples questions for no good reason. So I think this was not a troll. For more on trolls go to: Home » Categories » Answerbag » Users » Troll peeves

Your question was not 'deleted', per se. In order to keep AB as clean as possible, AB combines duplicate questions. This keeps the sheer numbers of questions down and encourages people NOT to ask duplicate questions. And the process is not exactly arbitrary, either. Let's say I flag one of your questions as a duplicate of an earlier question. This does not automatically mean it is accepted. Staff must review my flag first. IF they agree, they then combine it with the earlier question and I get five points for helping keep the site cleaner. HOWEVER, if the staff does NOT agree with me, they will tell me my flag has been rejected and then they will penalize ME (I think it's 10 points...might only be five, though) for an incorrect moderation. So, I will lose points AND my moderation score will suffer. Which encourages me to learn how to be a good moderator...because if I don't, my moderation score will truely suck. In all fairness, it is a common mistake of 'newbies' NOT to research their question on AB to see if it has already been asked before. You can do this by typing your question in the box at the top of the page under "Search for answers" and then click "GO!". This will turn up a bunch of closely related, if not exact duplicate, questions which you can look to see if it has been asked before. In fact, the very first question I asked was almost immediately flagged as a duplicate because I did not take care to do this myself...being a 'newbie' at the time, I did not know better myself. Needless to say, I have not made that mistake again! So it happens to the best of us occasionally. I've even flagged questions of more experienced members who have been around much longer than me because they were duplicates, offensive, or wrong catagory. Experienced members who understand the process probably do like me: smack themselves in the forehead and say "DOH!". You yourself do not suffer any direct penalties for any of your questions which were moderated. I say 'direct' because there are some other things to consider: DUPLICATES: Because your question is combined with a previously existing question, all additional points gathered go to the original poster of the question instead of you. But this isn't really a penalty. WRONG CATAGORY: You suffer NO penalties here. In fact, you may even gain MORE points and gather MORE answers and comments by having your question moved to a more appropriate catagory. OFFENSIVE/SPAM: For single, or very few, occurrances, you probably will NOT have anything done other than simply having the offensive material deleted. However, if you have a history of posting offensive questions (or answers), for example, you may receive notice from AB that your behavior is NOT acceptable and a request that you cease such activities. If you do not, they may take further actions such as putting you in a 'Penalty Box' (PB) for a period of time...where your account is basically frozen and you cannot do anything until they let you out of the PB. In the past, really serious offenders have been essentially banned for life. NONSENSE: Similar to OFFENSIVE/SPAM. However, most 'nonsense' material is flagged as such because they are incomplete questions or not questions at all. Some are obviously intentionally non-sensical combinations of characters. TROLLS, however, are a different beast entirely! Trolls are typically people who DR (down rate) others for no other apparent reason other than to tick them off. They leave no comments explaining why they DR'd a question or answer. There is more to it than this, but essentially that's it in a nutshell. Moderations for duplicates, wrong catagory, etc. are NOT considered trolling behavior because they MUST be reviewed by staff FIRST and ONLY staff may apply the flagged actions. Trolls cannot do this alone. And one other thing.... WELCOME TO ANSWERBAG! Here's to seeing you around more! <EDIT> Oh, and check this link out: http://www.orangefrogproductions.com/ofp2m_faq_ab_guide.shtml BigDaddyBS has taken the time to cover a lot of this material and more in this link.

Maybe because it *was * a duplicate. If you want to know something on Answerbag, you are first supposed to "Search for Answers" before you "Ask a Question". Because if the same or a very similar question has already been answered, it makes no sense to ask it again. Even if the question did not have the researched answers, you still could try to give it some new answer yourself, so as to bring it to the top again for other people to notice it. There is a little uncertainty on Answerbag about duplicates. Sometimes, you will think that your question has been rejected as a duplicate, although it seems obviously different from the original question. It could be a moderation error, but it could also be a way to avoid that too many similar questions are asked. Trolling on Answerbag has more to do with intensive downrating.

Having a question removed for being a duplicate is not a "troll action." When you typed in your question, a few questions came up that AB thought could be related. That's where you can check if your question has already been asked. It is part of the User Agreement that you will not knowingly repeat questions.