Michael Winner gave a good summary of the guidance around dupe / repeated captions today:
There are no formal rules as such, but the informal ones go something like:
- If a thing is in the picture, anyone can mention it as much as they want, in any context (cow, barn, field etc):
- If someone has put in a similar caption or idea, the earliest timestamped caption gets it (within reason- 20 seconds-ish?)
- If you’re inspired by someone else’s caption but want to do something different with it, give them a nod in the caption, or in your comments (anonymously, of course).
- Any old caption can be reused in any context, but a nod to the original author is seen as polite. This can get ridiculous with a meme or ancient caption though.
In prior conversations here in the forum we’ve generally been permissive with duplicated captions, given the dupe detector isn’t perfect (it won’t detect dupes of very recent captions), and captioneers are usually willing to acknowledge their dupe and either give a “nod,” edit the caption or delete it.
However, some cases are more suspicious and I will step in to moderate. Today’s dupe comes from a captioneer who’s created two other dupes so far this month. That seems a bit odd to me, so as a penalty I will down-vote the most recent two (which are still in the voting period). If the duping continues from this captioneer I’ll take further action.
Thank you to the vigilant admins for spotting this pattern and alerting me today. Apologies I haven’t responded sooner but I’m currently out of the country in a different timezone.
Thank you to everyone that plays fairly and comes up with original captions.
The above guidelines are good and with self-moderation (and us being adult about it) is all that should be required. I’ve deleted and changed about 5 in the last couple of weeks after reading the other captions properly - it’s no big deal I don’t think - but I will say if I think it’s not worthy of a nod too.
Overall I think the icing on the cake with this situation is the rather apt ‘fowl play’ caption :). I’m not pointing fingers, having a dig at anyone or anything like that, it’s just how I take this site - a bit of light relief with like-minded people. Happy captioning everyone 
Yes, in the few months I’ve been submitting captions to this great site, I’ve felt that one or two of my good, silly puns or witty observations have been immediately ‘stolen’ and used by someone else. However, neither of us has then gained any votes so nothing much has been lost.
Then again, it might be that when voters see similar-sounding captions, that puts them off voting as the jokes don’t feel original. It IS frustrating. I agree with the suggestions that everybody SHOULD read captions before submitting; everyone should play fair; you should only vote for the earliest version of the joke; it’s great that you ‘police’ the site, too. It’s unfortunate that the exchanges this week have created a bit of stress since it should all be some harmless and silly. I suggested a while back that more sponsorship/advertising might bring you more income and thus prizes - any thoughts, anyone?
Hi Everyone,
Thanks to Chris and other captioneers who have helped highlight this problem.
No it’s not life or death, worse things do happen but it is frustrating and can spoil the enjoyment of contributing to this site. I know obviously that some overlapping will sometimes occur and that’s inevitable. Anyway it is always worth re-reading the posted captions, as I often see one that I hadn’t noticed before.
Carry on captioning!! xx
im sure duplicates happen by accident as would seem silly to copy something from earlier as 99% of the time the earlier caption will have the votes …variations on a theme is much harder as to 1 may appear to be the same to another see a different slant guess should be able to decided which they prefer …the biggest issue to police is editing captions, is there not a way to show a time of an edit and maybe store the original copies …again a im sure no editing is done deliberately copying a caption .seems a lot of frustration and accusations for something meant to be light hearted and fun
I do plan to have an indicator to show if a caption has been edited. That’s a good idea.
The flash point in “Uddersfieldgate” was not the issue of duplication, but an anonymous inflammatory comment that was subsequently deleted. Is it feasible to tweak the settings so that once somebody has replied to a comment, it would be impossible to delete or change it?
I see now that Petey Bee has deactivated his account. It’s so sad to lose a member this way. All the more reason to make sure nothing like this happens again.
some comments are best deleted and if done before too many get to read it even better …any inflammatory comment given is usually just to start the arguments if ignored ts soon lost in the shuffle
The ability to anonymously comment and then delete it is prone to abuse and if this keeps happening I’ll have a word with the captioneers doing it. I agree that a technical solution might help too.
some comments are best deleted and if done before too many get to read it even better ...any inflammatory comment given is usually just to start the arguments if ignored ts soon lost in the shuffle
I was one of the targets of the comment and that is precisely why I logged off rather than respond to it and fan the flames.
Excellent advice, Chris, but not always easy to follow. I have seen trolling get so out of hand that it's closed a board down. And anonymity is a gift to people who want to cause trouble.
Pussy - I agree and we’ve exchanged a comment or two about this - I despise Anon - Chris can you close his account down…?
calling anyone a troll on here is a bit harsh, its a game some take more serious than others …suggestingnsome1 is cheatingmor copying isnt that bad in the grand scheme of things
I'm not calling anyone here a troll. I'm just saying things can get out of hand very easily, and that's what we need to avoid.
BTW, I don't know why my comment above in response to Chris is in a larger font. I wasn't aware of altering any settings when I typed it, so please don't think I'm shouting.
pussy I wasnt saying you had called anyone a troll … the term came up in the thread …thats the problem with so many post need to be careful not just what you mean but what others may take you to mean … when I say you I mean me haha
I see now that Petey Bee has deactivated his account. It's so sad to lose a member this way. All the more reason to make sure nothing like this happens again.
Seems Petey Bee has closed down his account and opened up another under a pseudonym, actually... hmm.
Fly away Petey, come back Paul......
Just guessing
andfea if you are refefing to me as being petey im can assure you I have no conection to petee at all … although understand how you came to think it given the post I did wonder if I was myself