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There are two fellows asking questions in who have indicated (10k-only link) that they're friends who are working together:

They have several pairs of questions which are the same problem. Some examples:

Ranges generated with arc4random() are incorrect and https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15178286/generating-a-random-number-in-objective-c (deleted)

Set order on displaying paths/images and Draw path ontop of UIImageView - Objective-c

Draw quart shape when clicked and Draw a circle when clicked using quartz

Their latest pair today, https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15349366/lock-cgrect-to-its-current-coordinates-objective-c and lock CGRect to current position – Objective-c can't be closed the way they should be under the new dupe closure rules because neither one has an answer.

(I've raised a flag about them, so I assume that there's no evidence that they're the same person.)

This isn't the end of the world, but it's kind of a stupid situation: they're clearly working on the same problems, and they're asking questions a couple of hours apart using very similar wording. (The questions aren't even followups, which would be just fine; they're really reposts.) There should be no reason they can't benefit from the answers to each others' questions. If these pairs were posted by the same user, we would be swarming all over them; I don't see a salient difference created by two accounts.

Closing one of the pair for another reason while dropping a duplicate link in a comment is possible, but doesn't seem ideal. What's the right way to handle this? Do I need to flag every time I see it happening?

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2 Answers 2

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Do I need to flag every time I see it happening?

Sounds like a good idea to me. The easiest solution for everyone concerned is to get these two guys to just talk to each other and ask one question at a time rather than duplicating their own efforts, those of the folks answering, closing, etc.

Of course, you can suggest this to them directly if you see it happening, but if that doesn't work then yeah - getting a mod to give 'em a private talking-to would tend to carry a bit more weight.

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  • I have indeed suggested that twice now; I'll call down the thunder if I get no response. I was hesitant because I've already raised a flag about the situation and wasn't sure anything further needed to be done by a mod.
    – jscs
    Mar 11, 2013 at 23:48
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    It seems Bill the Lizard doesn't need me to flag this time. Good old Meta. Thanks for looking into it, Bill!
    – jscs
    Mar 11, 2013 at 23:52
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Suggestion:

The requirement that the dupe-target has an answer should only be applied when the target is older than 1 week. (or some other threshold)

This will give time for the dupe-target to actually get an answer.

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    I do like this suggestion; I'm not sure a full week is necessary, though.
    – jscs
    Mar 11, 2013 at 23:48

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