Most recently I have been trying to highlight the fact that the site has been not keeping quality and multiple submissions cause discussions to scatter.
I tried to open a discussion on this topic a while ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10225569
The problem of multiple submissions is not difficult to fix. Reposts are ok to re-kindle the discussions however it is a dysfunction when multiple submissions are happening within a span of few minutes.
I do not wish to earn karma by taking credit away from anyone's post and I take keen interests in quality discussions.
Mods have told you, and other users have told you, that it is fine to repost something if the earlier submission didn't get posted.
Mods will often tell you to resubmit a story if they thought it was good but it didn't get much attention.
If there are different versions of the story it's probably useful to compile a list of all the different versions, and say which one you think is best.
And if a submission has had some discussion in the past it's useful to link to that previous discussion.
(I agree about the name calling. That wasn't necessary.)
I also standby the fact that duplicates (and not re-posts) are a problem on HN.
By duplicate, I mean the following: 1. Identical domain (such bbc.co.uk vs. bbc.com) 2. Identical url (cnbc.com/ vs. cnbc.com/?click=homepage) 3. Identical age - Submitted within the span of active discussions happening on the HN.
In case of re-posts, despite (1) and (2) points above either the discussions have ceased or mods have permitted re-posting.
Currently, on an exact url match of a previous story, HN notifies the user.
It would be great for HN to detect duplicate stories (not just an exact match). Let the user know of another ongoing discussion. Give an option to resubmit with that knowledge.