Housebound Freepers need to realize that the rest of us are always on the go and don't have time to scrutinize every thread that is posted here.
For example, I worked in Manhattan today so did not get home until after 7PM. Therefore, I would have missed anything posted prior to that time unless they were still gathering responses. Usually though, a thread has a shelf life of just a few hours before it drops away forever.
So duplicate posts are fine.
Right — I also looked in my sidebar under the various news categories, and if something had been there, it already as you say “dropped off”.
I’m not sure exactly how that algorithm for how long a thread stays in a sidebar category works. Sometimes the result seems a bit surprising vs. the response volume and timing. however, that may just be me, as sometimes I’m on FR a lot, but I might also disappear for days or weeks if I get busy.