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Comments on What recourse is there for incorrect close/delete?

Post

What recourse is there for incorrect close/delete?

+3
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Sometimes a moderator closes or deletes a question, but non-moderating users may see this as incorrect.

Closures and deletions are unilateral moderator actions. There is no way for regular users to respond to them.

If users think the moderator made a mistake, what are they supposed to do?

  • Are moderators considered infallible and if users disagree, the user is always wrong?
  • Do you flag as "other reason: reopen", even though the UX is worded like a request to close the question (which is already closed)?
    • How do you complain about deletions? Do you just repost the question?
    • If you suspect the flag was ignored, because the moderator refuses feedback, what then?
  • Do you complain in the closed question's comments, and hope the original mod will see it? AFAIK you can't "@-summon" people to new comment threads in Codidact.
  • Do you make a new post in meta, linking to the original question, to ask for a justification?
  • If an individual mod keeps repeatedly closing incorrectly, how is this detected and addressed?

Occasionally I see closures where the questions is valid, valuable, can be improved with a few simple edits, can be answered in a useful way (even without edits). Then a mod closes it with little explanation, and the discussion is abruptly halted. Tbh, often these seem like the mod mixing up "I'm confused" with "question is bad" - maybe that assumption is wrong, but there's no way to ask the mod what they were thinking.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

2 comment threads

The case of closing to edit and then reopen (6 comments)
"can be improved with a few simple edits": if it just needs a few simple edits, you could edit the qu... (3 comments)
The case of closing to edit and then reopen
trichoplax‭ wrote 4 months ago

The last paragraph suggests sometimes the questions you see may be closed as a temporary measure, to prevent answers being posted until the question is ready. Once edited to clarify, it can be reopened ready for answers to be posted. This can reduce the chance of answers being posted that are then invalidated by later edits to the question.

I think it would be useful for answers here to cover both of the following:

  • How to prompt the reopening of a question after it has been edited.
  • How to escalate a case where the user disagrees with a moderator (or curator) about whether a post should have been closed or deleted in the first place.
matthewsnyder‭ wrote 4 months ago

I was actually thinking of the cases where the question can be improved with edits, but is good enough as it is and shouldn't be closed even without edits.

But your point is relevant also. Stack has a "reopen flag", which seems related.

trichoplax‭ wrote 4 months ago

I'm not sure if we already have a reopen flag - hopefully someone posting an answer can confirm. It might only be available to curators or some similar ability.

I'd particularly like to see both cases covered in an answer because I can imagine both happening at the same time: If I disagree that a question should have been closed, I may want to have it reopened as an immediate measure, but also want to have the case escalated due to being closed incorrectly. I suppose it may be different depending on whether the question was closed unilaterally by a moderator, or by the votes of 5 curators (or however many of the appropriate ability).

matthewsnyder‭ wrote 4 months ago

I don't think we have a reopen flag. I assume that user are expected to flag "other" and put in "reopen" as the reason. That's not intuitive, though.

Monica Cellio‭ wrote 4 months ago · edited 4 months ago

Thanks for pointing out the lack of a reopen flag. If we had one, then curators would be able to see that flag and respond to it. I've generalized this in this change request on GitHub.

matthewsnyder‭ wrote 4 months ago

Thank you, Monica! That's a great description, and it would address the issue of a lack of a reopen flag if implemented.