There are two votes that voters sometimes confuse: "Nitpick Already Exists" and "Duplicate Submission". It's more common to see a submission that duplicates a nitpick that's already posted, which is when the "Nitpick Already Exists" vote is appropriate. But there's one in the queue right now that illustrates how to use the "Duplicate Submission" vote.
There were two nitpicks on Transformers in the queue. I first voted on this one:
SUBMITTED NITPICK #: 146234
Submitted on: 01 - 04 - 2008
Submitted by a Registered Nitpicker
MOVIE TITLE: Transformers - 2007
Nitpick Cat: Vehicles
Approx Time: 1/4 of the way through
Summary: Cabs change in mid trip.
Details:When Maggie steals SD card and gets a cab to Glen's house, the cab she starts in is different than the one she arrives at Glen's in.
Then this one came up to be voted on:
SUBMITTED NITPICK #: 146246
Submitted on: 01 - 05 - 2008
Submitted by a Registered Nitpicker
MOVIE TITLE: Transformers - 2007
Nitpick Cat: Vehicles
Approx Time: 1/4 of the way through
Summary: Different cab
Details:When Maggie steals the SD card and she gets into a cab, it's cab number 682. When she gets out it's not cab 682.
The first one had a "needs more detail' vote on it, so I suppose the nitpicker decided to resubmit it, giving the cab number. But really, the nitpicker should have waited to see what would happen to the submission. If the submission had been rejected, s/he could resubmit giving different details. But if it was posted and s/he thought more detail was needed, s/he could submit a comment adding explanatory detail. While these two give different details, they are basically the same nitpick, and this nitpick should be posted only once. So, as long as the first one is in the queue, the second one should get only "Duplicate Submission" votes.
Another possibility, of course, is that someone saw another nitpicker's submission in the queue and immediately submitted a similar version. Or, maybe the second submission was just a matter of coincidence. Either way, the one that was submitted first deserves the first chance to get voted in. As long as the first one is in the queue, it should be the only one under consideration. If voters are voting on both at the same time, there's no telling which one will get voted in and posted first. So if voters give positive votes to the second one, they're opening up an opportunity for one nitpicker to steal another nitpicker's idea, and of course we don't want to encourage that.
BTW, this is a hard vote for MNs to review because it requires us to know what was in the voting queue when the vote was cast. So if you should see a duplicate submission, it's helpful if you can post something in the "Comments on Submitted Nitpicks" thread letting people know about it.
