Yep - I did - hadn't even thought of it. Was simply trying to prevent the duplication that I am criticising now. It was a good idea to put the links in.
The bit that bugs me - apart from the bandwidth argument - is when somebody asks a question (potentially, a fairly serious question) and you see that nobody has answered.
Off you go to the reference material, collecting links from other websites, looking up chapter and verse from publications to ensure that the answers are as correct as you can get them, and then type it all out, proof read it, proof read it again - submit it - then spot the typo and go back in to edit it.
A decent question can take 30 minutes or so to submit a thorough response with good information.
Then, feeling satisfied that you've helped - you go surfing into another forum and find the same question, with a string of answers already applied to it - saying exactly the same stuff that you have just done. That's why when I do the duplicates - which are (normally) specifically designed to try and help and educate fellow students and pilots - I lock all but the thread I consider to be in the most appropriate forum.
I'm still open to ideas - if somebody knows of a better way then, please, tell me - as you did when I missed the link recently.
Some of the duplicates are "broadcasts" from the mods about the boards. Examples are the (what were) new forums and there terms of engagement - or the upcoming GatBash - but these don't need replies, they are statements.