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A recent question How do I tell my Mom I'm Agnostic? was closed as a duplicate. We've actually got three older questions that cover the topic of conflicting religions between children and parents.

The question is currently being considered for reopening. I'm quoting the most comprehensive comment about the reasoning here:

Voting to reopen because the other questions were about how adult children who have the ability to not be in the home with the parents should handle the situation. This OP is "a young kid" so there are definitely different power dynamics here. The other questions don't address the unique challenges of a younger child living at home addressing their parents about such a big religious decision.

There are essentially three possible choices, which I'd like to get input from the community on.

  1. The question should be reopened because it is substantially different enough.

  2. The question should be left closed.

  3. The question should be closed as a duplicate, but the linked duplicates aren't the best selection. (These can be altered, but it's not a simple one-click operation and I might need non-mods helping out with the process.)

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  • I like your #1 best, and #3 would be my second choice. Great question!
    – aparente001
    Jun 6, 2015 at 4:15

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I think it's a duplicate, but a "better fit" duplicate would be How do I tell my mom that I am not Christian?. Since the OP of this question and the OP of the duplicate are both teenagers, the relationship dynamics (an important factor to consider in discussions like this!) are a better match in the third, not the others which involve adult children at college.

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  • I think I agree that the question should be closed and that your better duplicate should be pointed to. You're right that it's a better fit.
    – DanBeale
    Jun 1, 2015 at 11:40
  • I think the new duplicate is a better fit, and good enough to close/dupe for. The top answers even specifically addresses the age issue. For reference and transparency, the quote in the OP was mine, and I would withdraw my reopen vote for this new dupe question.
    – user11394
    Jun 2, 2015 at 2:47
  • I re-closed it today.
    – Acire
    Jun 7, 2015 at 11:27
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How should we handle questions that have subtle differences?

Do we close newer questions and point them to the previous question? (I hope we only do this if the previous question has a relevant answer! Closing a question and pointing to irrelevant previous answers is not a great experience).

And should we then edit the oroginal question to make it more generic and broad so that it covers the slight differences? (So, not rejecting the premise of a question and not changing he question significantly).

Or do we just say tha as a low volume site we welcome all the traffic we can get and leave as much as possible open, with friendly pointers to other answers that might be useful?

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    This would be better as its own meta question -- there is a LOT of good content for discussion and site policy in it.
    – Acire
    Jun 1, 2015 at 11:42
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    An existing question not having a good answer is (imho) a pretty bad reason to ask the question again as a duplicate. It wasn't answered the first time, so why would reposting it change things? Editing or adding bounties are better ways than simply re-asking.
    – user420
    Jun 4, 2015 at 16:43

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