Is there any way to counteract votes placing a question “on hold”?

Question

My feeling is that some questions are unnecessarily placed on hold. A short question like this one (https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/376574/word-for-a-person-who-often-use-technical-professional-words-with-others) is not necessarily unclear, and wordy ones are not necessarily clear.

Is there any way in which "ordinary users" can express their view that the question does not deserve or need to be kept on hold?

Answer 1

I think the best way for an ordinary user to save a question is by making an edit.

Let's take the question you used as your example. In my mind, this question is badly flawed for a few reasons:

• The title is too long
• The question is too scant (it's not even a complete sentence)
• There are grammatical errors
• No example usage is given
• No indication is given whether this should be a complimentary or disparaging term

With all these strikes against it, I think it was probably right to put the question on hold. I've never thought we ought to coddle users who put such little effort into their questions.

But you are asking what can be done. I say, if you really think this question is interesting enough to salvage, then the best course of action would be to click the edit button, and:

• Give the question a better title
• Expand the body of the question
• Fix the grammar/punctuation problems
• Provide an example usage
• Indicate whether or not the term should be endearing or disparaging

Granted, you'll have to use a little guesswork when it comes to that last one, but you can always leave a comment saying that if you've guessed wrong, the O.P. is welcome to clarify with another edit.

By doing this, you won't just be salvaging the question – you might also be providing a model that can be used by the O.P. in future questions, thereby bettering the site.

Answer 2

IMO, a question title that consists of twelve words which are then repeated in the question body, deserves to be put on hold for lack of research and effort. Always.

But if low-rep users want to reopen a question, the next best thing they can do is visit meta, and ask the community if they agree with the closure. If users (or the mods) believe the question has merit, they will reopen it.

I don't think this is the case here.

Closely related: The close vote in review queue is meant to be cast judiciously

Answer 3

For users with sufficient reputation, it is possible to review close votes using the review tools. I don't know the exact mechanics, but enough "keep open" votes can, I think, counteract close votes on a question.