[falserum]

> but it's unfair to the dozens of people who follow in their footsteps and find their question years later.

Exactly.

In similar fashion: duplicate questions are alternative ways how people can find the question. (I.e. Useful for later searchers)

[MisterSandman]

I can see you’re getting downvoted but I 100% agree. StackExchange is so, so bad at this - they will close a question because there’s like a 75% overlap with a different question.

[falserum]

Duplicates could be useful if they are properly linked with earlier question/answer. (Something like “import answer” could be useful)