Yup, I agree with you entirely. It would be great, and it's absolutely trivial, anyone could do it. Off you go then, and let us know when it's done. The HN source is available for download, and while no doubt the one PG runs is slightly different I have no doubt that whatever you write can easily be integrated.
It doesn't even need to be automatic. You can just have people say "this" is the same story as "that" - amalgamate.
Shouldn't even be three days - bet you could do it in one.
And yet the concept is rife with potential problems. Which article & title becomes the default, first submitted or highest ranking? What happens if articles get combined that shouldn't be combined? Is there an undo? Who controls that? How simple is merging the discussions?
I didn't mean to imply that this is an easy problem to solve. My point is that there are very smart people on HN willing to figure this out for the rest of us.
