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The Possible duplicate auto-comment is pretty bare bones right now; just "Possible duplicate of [title of duplicate as link]".

I've noticed since we can now only close questions as duplicates of answered questions, we can make the comment a bit friendlier; it's not just a dupe (sadface), it has my answers (happyface!). Waxeagle suggested something similar to this, a comment of his own. Here's another possible wording:

This question appears to be a duplicate of [link] which already has [n] answers; see if you can find your answer there or edit your question to clarify why those answers do not suit your situation.

The edit bit is something extra I often throw in when I'm only 90% sure a post is a dupe, to see if I can goad more details out of the asker.

There's also two edge cases that allow dupe close votes without the souce question being answered; should probably still get the old comment form. These cases are MSO questions (any question can be voted as a dupe without answers) and where the dupe is also posted by the same user. In fact in that second case the auto comment could be something like:

This question appears to cover the same ground as your earlier question [link]. There's no need to repost, if you need to update your earlier question simply [edit it] (link to edit original Q).

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  • I'm wax eagle and I endorse this feature request.
    – wax eagle
    Mar 15, 2013 at 15:40
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    Whoa now, "Possible duplicate"? I think you mean "possible duplicate"; it'll be a cold day in hell before SE starts capitalizing that comment Mar 15, 2013 at 15:44
  • @MichaelMrozek Well the new one's a full sentence, so they no longer have a reason to not capitalize it.
    – Ben Brocka
    Mar 15, 2013 at 16:03

1 Answer 1

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The OP actually gets a huge in-your-face box at the very top as soon as a close-as-dupe vote is cast:

enter image description here

– you just don't see it, since it's only shown to the question owner.

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