The official policy on HN now is that reposts are permitted/tolerated, provided no recent previous submission got much attention/discussion. So now we have this:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11981206 21 hours ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11979114 1 day ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11964642 3 days ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11953187 5 days ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11951476 5 days ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11944858 6 days ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11938225 7 days ago

I'm all for making sure good quality items don't slip through the net, and there have been examples where an item has taken off and flown on the fourth or fifth submission, but I'm really not sure this is a Good Thing(tm).

Edit: more added with a better search.

Hmm. I would delete my submission if I could.

My guess, based on the changes to comment deletion, is that the |delete| link disappeared once a comment was attached to the thread. Anyway, it's easy to miss a story on the river when it receives moderate traction. When it never makes the front page it's not unreasonable to act as though it hadn't been submitted.

To me, the solution to whatever problems repeat submissions might create isn't everyone searching for previous submissions before posting a story. It's better duplicate detection and classification. The amount of friction for users created by duplicates is much less than that created by manual data validation.