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The question What's a word for a 'thing that makes one sleepy'? has attracted a good number of upvotes and a series of interesting answers IMO, but users appear to think that it is still off-topic. I tried to VTR it more than once after it was edited adding the sample sentence and the required previous research, but...nothing.

I think it is an interesting question and the answers offers a really exhaustive variety of options.

Should it not be re-opened? What more is necessary?

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    I think I'd like to know what the purpose of re-opening would be, since there appear to be highly-regarded answers already. Do you have another answer ready which you can't add at the moment?
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Mar 28, 2017 at 9:34
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    @Andrew Leach - if the question is on topic now, I would like to know the purpose of leaving it on hold. If me or other users have a new answer to add is irrelevant to the reopening request.
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 9:51
  • The actual edit which attempted to make the question on topic was made by someone different than yourself. english.stackexchange.com/revisions/211163/2
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:04
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    @AndrewLeach A closed question (not a duplicate) is a sign that it should be deleted/removed from the site. As SWR's go, it is not bad: it is well-specified, the variety of answers is reasonable, and the poor answers have been deleted. It should be moved back from the precipice of deletion.
    – Mitch
    Mar 28, 2017 at 14:02
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    @Mitch please support your assertion that closed questions should be either removed or deleted from the database. This is the first time I have ever heard of it. Are you sure that you're not hiding Rathony underneath your robes.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 14:32
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    @Mari-LouA Haha re Rathony. Technically, closing a question turns on the delete button for it. Also, that is part of the longstanding design and intention, that closed questions get removed (except for dupes). I'll look for supporting evidence.
    – Mitch
    Mar 28, 2017 at 14:38
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    @Mari-LouA meta.stackexchange.com/questions/58842/… seems to support what I say.
    – Mitch
    Mar 28, 2017 at 14:39
  • @Mitch There are hundreds and maybe thousands of questions that should be deleted, if that source is to be taken literally. And comparing Stack Overflow with a language site is like comparing apples and oranges.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 14:42
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    I don't care, but if it is reopened, it should immediately be protected.
    – ab2
    Mar 28, 2017 at 17:20
  • @ab2 It's already 'protected'. And that state won't change automatically, I believe.
    – NVZ Mod
    Mar 29, 2017 at 12:24
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    @NVZ I may be blind, but I don't see the "protected" notice. It is de-facto protected against everyone because it is closed, but if it is reopened, I recommend that it be protected against sub-rep-10 users.
    – ab2
    Mar 29, 2017 at 17:17
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    @ab2 If you look at its revision history you'll find that it was 'protected' by Kit Z Fox, and that protection should be there even when it is reopened.
    – NVZ Mod
    Mar 29, 2017 at 18:05
  • @NVZ Whew! What a relief. I was losing sleep over it. :)
    – ab2
    Mar 29, 2017 at 18:07
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    The question is now reopened.
    – Sven Yargs
    Mar 30, 2017 at 22:36

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I think it should be re-opened. It's not a great question, but leaving it closed is pointless, and I agree with what Mitch said in a comment: closure should be made a temporary status as often as possible.

Functionally, closure acts to prevent anyone from answering a question, and enables deletion. The "closed" status shouldn't be used as an eternal badge of disapproval for questions that are seen as "lazy" or otherwise subpar. That's what downvotes are for. (I just downvoted the question; I'm surprised to see that only one other person has done so so far, even though there were five close-voters.)

Closed questions that are valuable should be historically locked, closed questions that are impossible to salvage and have no valuable answers should be deleted, and bad but salvageable closed questions should be edited and then reopened.

This seems to fall into the last category. (There are no delete votes, so evidently high-rep users don't think the page should actually be removed from the site.)

Who knows, maybe someday someone will post another useful answer. We shouldn't block this. Yes, there are existing answers that seem adequate, but it's hard to figure out if that means there are no other possible good answers. Many open questions on this site have accepted answers or a similar number of answers.

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I would think the principle reason for leaving answered and accepted questions open is because it allows users to submit new information, new suggestions, and new answers.

It seems to me that 14 answers is a pretty exhaustive list, the accepted answer itself contains a list of fourteen words! Five out of the fourteen posts have been deleted by mods / the community, which hasn't harmed the question in the slightest. The answers were all very low quality and/or repeating suggestions submitted earlier.

Let's remind ourselves that closed questions are not hidden from view, anyone can look up the question and find that extensive thesaurus list. A closed question just means new answers cannot be submitted.

Is that such a bad thing? Why? If the OP can provide a convincing argument, I'll happily VTR.

Is this question still off topic?
In my opinion, it is still off-topic.

The edit, written by a different user than the OP, states

thesaurus.com doesn't give anything which leads to a suitable noun.

Not true! I clicked on the link and it has the following list

somniferous somnolent soothing soporific soporose trance-inducing torpid
drowsy lethargic listlesss sluggish asleep comatose draggy hypnotic

Included in that list are the words hypnotic, soporific, and drowsy. Amazingly, the accepted answer provided a list of drugs and agents (dwale, somnifacient, somnivolency/somnolency) which induce sleep (or death!), which boggles the mind but the OP never said he was looking for an adjective or a noun to describe sleepy. It seems he was looking for the names of medicines or the agent responsible for making one sleepy. In which case, the question, as it stands, is unclear, and ergo off-topic.

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  • The question is closed as off-topic. Is it?
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 11:20
  • What you are referring to is locking a question.
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 11:36
  • @Josh No, what I am saying that the question is closed because it was off topic then, and it is still off topic. And I've always maintained that whenever we have approached this argument.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 11:55
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    It looked crystal clear to me and others, as a matter of fact. Anyway the edit has made the question more clear.
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:17
  • There was never ever any research. If you like answering dictionary-requests there's nothing wrong with that, but questions need to show a modicum of research on EL&U, and demonstrate that the answer can't be found in a thesaurus or in the dictionary, or that it's difficult to know where to look without knowing the answer. The answer that was accepted makes the question unclear, and if it does get reopened, (note I never CTV or vetoed against it being reopened) this time I will VTC with every fibre in my body.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:21
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    Yes, but the question was edited, does it mater? The question has attracted a lot of interest, users find it useful and make a sense of it.
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:24
  • @Josh what's so absolutely amazing about the question? Tell me, I'm all ears. The fact it is closed does not prevent users benefiting from it. This question has been closed since December 2014. Move on, or make the question on-topic.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:29
  • It is a good SWR question whose answer is not immediately available if you don't know it already. What's bad about it? Laziness from the OP?
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:32
  • @Josh I might take your request more seriously if you hadn't posted an answer yourself. The answer which the community has overwhelmingly upvoted, it has 90 upvotes, while the accepted answer has only 20.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:37
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    Once a question is posted it belongs to the community. Why waste it? The question, as it stands now, is on topic though It could be further improved.
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:43
  • You always make it a personal issue, which is not. Sorry for you!!!!
    – user66974
    Mar 28, 2017 at 12:44

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