I'm getting to the point where I don't know what to do about this. There are many re-submissions, and the official policy is that this is OK in some circumstances. In a way this is a good thing, because it gives good items a second chance when they sank the first time with no votes.
But when there has been an earlier, desultory discussion, there is some value in knowing that, but there's also value in giving things a second chance. I still think there should be an open, transparent way to link previous discussions, and then things would both get a second chance, and build on previous discussions.
No conclusions, no suggestions, just a degree of frustration. Thanks for replying positively.