How would we know if a question is similar or related to another question?

Question

Sometimes, we won't see that there is a similar question to the one we are asking. For example, when I asked a question about Slowking learning flamethrower, my question was closed because it was similar to a question about Slowpoke learning fire moves. However, in the "Before proceeding, please check your question was not already asked: " section, I didn't see anything that was related to my question. Is there another way to see if a question is related to the one you're asking? If not, is it possible you could make it easier to find related questions?

Comments

You don't. It would probably take some google level search engine for the db to suggest what you're looking for and frankly, something we don't need. There is no harm or downside in having your question closed and when someone closes it as a duplicate, you can always just complain that it wasn't clear enough and someone would probably explain it

Answer 1

The best way to find if your question is a duplicate is to use a filtered Google search. Put the key terms of your question into the search box, e.g. slowking and flamethrower in this case, and then add the filter site:pokemondb.net/pokebase to make the results only include pages from PokeBase. Most of the time, this will bring up the question you've got if it exists already. It works for the question you asked.

Improving the related questions list is easier said than done -- there is an entire field of computer science dedicated to finding search results that are the most relevant to input queries. Naturally, Google has a better grip on that than an open-source project like Q2A, so if you really don't want to post duplicate questions, then checking a search engine is the best technique to use.

Though, as KyokaSuigetsu alludes, it shouldn't be too much of a worry if your post gets removed as a duplicate. It means the answer is already there for you on the site, which is only a good thing, right? I can understand it feels silly having your posts closed, but that happens all the time. Try not to stress too much about it.

Comments

Thanks.