Duplicate sleuth

A moderation assistant that helps reduce repetitive posts by detecting similar questions across a subreddit before discussions become duplicated.

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Inspiration

I noticed that many subreddit discussions repeat the same questions over and over again. This can make communities cluttered and harder to moderate. I wanted to build a simple moderation assistant that helps identify duplicate or very similar posts before discussions become repetitive.

What it does

Duplicate Sleuth checks subreddit post titles and compares them with existing posts to detect possible duplicates. The tool calculates similarity percentages and labels posts as:

  • High duplicate risk
  • Possible duplicate
  • Looks unique

This helps moderators and users quickly spot repeated questions and reduce spam-like reposts.

How I built it

I built the project using Reddit Devvit with TypeScript. The app fetches subreddit posts, normalizes titles, removes stop words, and compares text similarity between posts.

The similarity system combines:

  • Keyword overlap
  • Levenshtein similarity

The frontend interface was built directly inside the Devvit app using TypeScript and custom UI logic.

Challenges I ran into

One of the biggest challenges was improving duplicate detection accuracy. Simple text matching was not enough because users often phrase the same question differently.

I also had to learn how Devvit apps work, how to deploy updates, and how to test the app inside a subreddit environment.

Another challenge was setting up Git and GitHub properly for version control and deployment.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am proud that I was able to:

  • Build and deploy a working Reddit moderation tool
  • Improve similarity detection logic
  • Create a functional UI with duplicate risk indicators
  • Connect the project to GitHub
  • Learn more about Devvit and moderation workflows

What I learned

Through this project, I learned:

  • How Reddit Devvit apps are structured
  • TypeScript event handling and UI logic
  • Similarity matching techniques
  • Git and GitHub workflows
  • Debugging and testing live subreddit tools

I also learned how important user experience is when designing moderation tools.

What's next for Duplicate Sleuth

In the future, I would like to:

  • Add AI-powered duplicate detection
  • Analyze full post bodies instead of only titles
  • Add moderator analytics and dashboards
  • Support more advanced filtering systems
  • Add dark mode and personalization settings
  • Improve accuracy for differently worded questions

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