Hi Shawn,
I don’t believe there is a way to merge forum topics on the Commons, although that’s a great suggestion. If this feature request isn’t already posted on Redmine, I will go ahead and add it.
I agree that it’s challenging to maintain conversations when users aren’t familiar with the online environment. While you can’t currently merge the similar topics, I would suggest creating a forum thread addressed to members of the group which explains something to the effect of, *Please read through the existing forum threads before you post*. You could also post a group update with the same information and select ’email this update to all group members’. In the meantime, you might want to go into each similar thread and link to the existing thread where you would prefer members to post their replies.
I think we’re working on a bug fix for an issue we are currently having making ‘sticky’ forum threads appear on the top of the first page, but once that’s sorted out you could make the topic ‘sticky’ so members will always see the thread when they navigate to the group forum.
I also wanted to recommend that you join the ‘Group for Group Admins’ group (http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/groups/the-group-for-group-admins/). This group is open for any group administrator on the CUNY Academic Commons and was created to share information and keep you updated about changes to the site. We’d love to have you in the group and post your ideas about ways to improve the overall group experience.
Best,
Sarah
