Perhaps https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10223645 might give some idea of what the moderators are thinking?

Avoiding dupes is simple. The Search feature works fine (pick an uncommon keyword from title, and search). Or, even after submitting, one can click the "Past" link on his/her own submit to check for purely identical title and link and then delete the dupe if they choose. But, as with your dupe of the Fine Brothers story, people choose not to.