What does いないか mean in this sentence?


> 同じ人が書き込んでいないか

I think it means something like

> Didn't the same person make this post (bulletin board)

I'm not sure however. What do you think ?




いないか can't make sense by itself, unless combined with previous 書き込んで to mean
its progressive or result ("is not posting" or "(has) not posted") followed by
か.

か is a question particle, but I guess here it's used as indirect question
"whether --". English has only one word "whether", but Japanese has two
options using positive + か or negative + か. The difference is somewhat like
that of "Do -- ?" and "Don't -- ?" were carried into indirect question form;
the positive + か expects the positive case is more frequent or typical, and
the same applies to the negative. Usually the difference can hardly go beyond
subjective nuance, but in specific cases it becomes crucial:

> 書き込む人がいるか心配だ _I worry how many people would make posts_ (wishing for post)  
>  書き込む人がいないか心配だ _I worry lest somebody should make posts_ (afraid of post)

So translation would be (depending on context):

> whether (perhaps) the same person is posting  
>  lest the same person should be posting




いないか can't make sense by itself, unless combined with previous 書き込んで to mean
its progressive or result ("is not posting" or "(has) not posted") followed by
か.

か is a question particle, but I guess here it's used as indirect question
"whether --". English has only one word "whether", but Japanese has two
options using positive + か or negative + か. The difference is somewhat like
that of "Do -- ?" and "Don't -- ?" were carried into indirect question form;
the positive + か expects the positive case is more frequent or typical, and
the same applies to the negative. Usually the difference can hardly go beyond
subjective nuance, but in specific cases it becomes crucial:

> 書き込む人がいるか心配だ _I worry how many people would make posts_ (wishing for post)  
>  書き込む人がいないか心配だ _I worry lest somebody should make posts_ (afraid of post)

So translation would be (depending on context):

> whether (perhaps) the same person is posting  
>  lest the same person should be posting

