# Thread - Request Mergers of Very Similar Questions

Would something perennial like Requests for Reopen & Undeletion Votes, etc. (volume 10/2012 - 12/2014) help? Example:

$\sqrt{x}$$\sqrt{x}$ = $x$ but $\sqrt{x^2}$ = $|x|$. Why?,
What's the thing with $\sqrt{-1} = i$,
Why is $\sqrt{4} = 2$ and Not $\pm 2$?,
and their many duplicates under "Related" (sufficiently multitudinous that I record only these 3).

Posterior to the comments and downvotes, I've added "homogeneous" to the title to define this thread for coalescing very allied questions and answers, such as duplicates, and not merely all those which are related. I tender some candidates in my answer below.

• The merging of questions can only be done by moderators. Even then, for search indexing reasons, or because of the required amount of editing to the answers to make them fit neatly with the other question (notation etc.) it may be better to keep them separate. – Lord_Farin Nov 28 '13 at 8:34
• I like the concept of the Requests for Reopen Votes thread a lot, the idea can certainly be extended to do other things in a more democratic manner too, and we are planning to steal this good idea to implement community moderation on our future new physics site too ... ;-P ;-) – Dilaton Nov 28 '13 at 11:30
• In general I’m not in favor of merging questions that are not duplicates. – Brian M. Scott Nov 29 '13 at 1:21
• @BrianM.Scott: I emended my OP; I should've written "duplicate." – Greek - Area 51 Proposal Dec 1 '13 at 9:32
• @BrianM.Scott, do you extend that to near-duplicates by the same user (sometimes because they don't realize they can edit their question)? – dfeuer Dec 16 '13 at 8:25
• @dfeuer: It depends very much on the specific case, but in general I prefer to err on the side of keeping them distinct. – Brian M. Scott Dec 16 '13 at 8:27
• – Dwayne E. Pouiller Jan 5 '14 at 12:56
• "I've added "homogeneous" to the title to define this thread for coalescing extremely similar and allied questions and answers, such as duplicates, and not merely all those which are related." That's not what "homogeneous" means. – Gerry Myerson Mar 10 '14 at 6:10
• @GerryMyerson: Thank you. I'm using it in the sense of "consisting of parts all of the same kind"? Is this wrong? Please advise. – Greek - Area 51 Proposal Mar 10 '14 at 6:15
• No one question consists of parts, all of the same kind. – Gerry Myerson Mar 10 '14 at 6:19
• @GerryMyerson: Thank you. I emended it. – Greek - Area 51 Proposal Mar 10 '14 at 6:23