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Comments on Should we remove closed questions from the question list?

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Should we remove closed questions from the question list?

+7
−1

Should we exclude closed questions from the question list?

Closed questions (and their answers) would still be linked on the owners' profiles, would be included in search results, and would produce the usual notifications from activity on them. This change would only be to get them out of the main view.

If a question is closed and being worked on (to fix the issues), this lets the author do so out of view. If the issues that caused it to be closed are addressed and the question is reopened, it returns to view. Meanwhile, it's not "in the way" and likely not attracting more downvotes. ("I know it's broken; you don't need to keep telling me!", the author might be thinking in response to more and more downvotes while trying to edit.)

If a question is closed and not being worked on to fix the issues, then it's unlikely to be helpful for it to be listed. While it sometimes happens that a third party sees a question, knows what the author was trying to ask, and fixes it (I've done this), it's uncommon. I can think of a few options we might consider to mitigate this: search by closure status, a filter, a user preference, show to people with the Curate ability. I'd like to understand how big a concern it is first and then we can decide what to do about it.

This question is not meant to preclude other housekeeping automation. I'm asking if withdrawing closed questions from the main public view would be a useful first step.

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1 comment thread

This suggestion is similar (3 comments)
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+7
−1

I believe Somewhere Else only high-rep. users can see Closed Questions (except their own). I think that is a pointlessly elitist attitude, for lack of a better term. On the other hand, I realize that generally speaking, Closed Questions are just needless clutter to most users, most of the time.

I suggest an easy way to toggle viewing of Closed Questions on/off on the main post page, with default for new users and non-logged-in users of "off". In addition to a toggle that anyone can use, at any time, include a User Profile option to determine the default configuration for that user (either per Community or global - whichever is easiest to implement).

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2 comment threads

SE closed questions visibility & general proposal feedback (1 comment)
the toggle is a filter (1 comment)
SE closed questions visibility & general proposal feedback
Alexei‭ wrote about 3 years ago

AFAIK, SE allows closed questions to be shown to virtually anyone and I often get search engine results directly to closed questions. The deleted ones are indeed visible to users with 10K+ reputation (non-beta sites).

I find your idea the quickest to implement, but some underlying issues with questions still in the normal category remain.

Closed questions might benefit from the "sandbox" since voting can be removed and the focus remains on the content itself. Also, more noise (comments not directly related to the question) might be allowed outside of the normal Q&A.