(Seeing that dang's already responded here, some additional context.) On HN a duplicate is either a submission of the same link, or a substantively similar art

(Seeing that dang's already responded here, some additional context.) On HN a duplicate is either a submission of the same link, or a substantively similar article which doesn't advance significant new information on a story. Where multiple submissions occur in a short period of time (say for a major breaking story), HN typically aggregates discussion under the first submission, usually with a note. Votes may or may not be aggregated (and often aren't), and this can sometimes have an influence on the "flameware" detector which is based on the ratio of comments to story votes (> 40 votes, comments > votes), which I've suggested may unfairly penalise some high-interest / high-impact stories. In general, if an item's been posted within the past running year and there's been more than about 20 comments on the thread, any substantively similar submissions will be considered "duplicate". (Dang / HN mods can also see residence time on the front page, which may enter into their assessments. Ordinary participants cannot see this.) Submissions without substantial discussion aren't dupes. Submissions occurring over a running year after the most recent substantive discussion are not a dupe. And for large and complex stories (SBF, OpenAI, the Reddit boycott, long-running legal battles, COVID-19, BLM, etc.), new stories which introduce significant new facts are not considered dupes. (Additionally HN may up- or down-rank specific items based on source, various "hot topic" items, etc. There are many dang comments discussing this.) The 2nd chance, invited post, and a few other pools may occasionally create disruptions in the first-past-the-post spacetime fabric, as dang notes occurred here, in this comment: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38633974 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38633974> My view is that exposure and discussion of a story, whether I or someone else has submitted it, is the chief goal. HN karma's a mostly irrelevant score, and there are numerous high-quality contributors and industry idols / domain experts with very low karma, as well as space alien cats with too much time on their paws with far more than they deserve.