second-brain-merge

1# Merge duplicate pages
2 
3A merge is irreversible in the way that matters: afterwards you cannot tell
4which claim came from which page. Two ideas that look identical from their
5summaries are often a general case and a specific one.
6 
7## Core rule
8 
9Never merge unprompted. Propose, wait for approval, then follow the procedure
10exactly.
11 
12## Workflow
13 
141. **Pick the survivor** by canonical name, not by which page is longer.
152. **Merge content.** Every distinct claim survives with its source. Overlapping
16   claims collapse; differing ones both stay, following the contradiction rules.
173. **Merge aliases,** including the dead page's title as an alias on the
18   survivor. This is what keeps old links and the user's memory working.
194. **Redirect inbound links** to the survivor. Check every backlink.
205. **Delete the old page,** or leave a stub only if it was linked from outside
21   the vault.
226. **Record in `log.md`:** both names, the date, and why.
23 
24## Output format
25 
26```
27Merged: [[old]] -> [[survivor]]
28Claims kept from old page: <n>
29Aliases added: <list>
30Inbound links redirected: <n>
31Conflicts recorded: <none | description>
32```
33 
34## Calibration
35 
36If the two pages disagree about anything factual, that is a signal they may not
37be duplicates. Surface the disagreement and ask before proceeding.
38 
39Never merge a page marked `maintained_by: human` into another without explicit
40confirmation naming that page.