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If a question was voted to close in error, is it possible to reverse the vote?

Sometimes it may so happen that an incorrect reason-for-closing was selected.

Very rarely, vote to close could have been cast because the question was not correctly understood at the first instance.

What then are the options?

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    In short, no. I'll try to pull up a MSO post about it for you
    – user10893
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 13:59
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    This one I think.
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 14:14
  • Thanks so much, @simchona -- please do (pull up an MSO post about it).
    – Kris
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 14:19
  • @AndrewLeach Yes, that. However, it seems unresolved there. The accepted answer is not a solution or even a suggestion but a supporting note. I see there that there's huge support for a 'retract close vote' option.
    – Kris
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 14:21
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    Yes, you're right, and I agree that it would be A Good Thing if votes could be retracted. But status-declined rarely gets reversed, it seems.
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 14:28
  • @AndrewLeach: Then there was the time when I voted to close, the author made a correction that negated my reason for closing, and I wanted to undo my close vote, but couldn't.
    – Tom Au
    Commented May 10, 2013 at 16:05
  • Perhaps, a 30-sec window for retract-vote so the voter can step-back if he discovers quickly enough that they did not really mean to close vote? There's something similar in up/ down voting at present. Just thinking aloud.
    – Kris
    Commented May 11, 2013 at 5:25
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    It's been updated to status-planned now.
    – Hannele
    Commented Jun 12, 2013 at 18:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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As per Can we have the ability to retract a close vote before it closes? the feature is planned. Basing on the first details, rescinding a previous close vote will not offer the possibility of changing the closing reason, since the user who rescinded a vote will not be able to re-vote to close the same question.

Choosing the wrong closing reason should not be something to worry about: The closing reason selected by the majority of the users who voted to close is the one shown when the question is closed. If the closing reason is wrong, I would eventually leave a comment explaining that the correct reason should be another one. As long as the closed question deserves to be closed, there isn't any reason to vote to re-open it and then close it, just to be able to show the correct closing reason.

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  • However, in the event of a tie, the last (tie-breaking) vote wins and sets the reason. If that's wrongly cast, the wrong reason is stated. Is a comment enough to correct that?
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Commented May 13, 2013 at 17:59
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    As long as a single comment doesn't become a discussion about the correct closing reason, a comment is enough. The comment should make clear that what said is the personal opinion of the user who writes it. If the OP wants to know what is the exact reason to close the question, the OP can ask a question on the meta site.
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 13, 2013 at 20:58
  • This is clearly over-simplistic. Sorry but that's the reality. In an ideal system, yes, logic holds. However, lots of factors kick-in when a real-world situation exists. You have been there and know far better.
    – Kris
    Commented May 14, 2013 at 5:55
  • @Kris Do you have any evidence that questions get closed and never re-opened again because a user was not able to retract a closing vote?
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 14, 2013 at 7:25
  • It's surprising, coming from you. Was "...that questions get closed and ..." some statement I had made sometime in my past life? How am I even related to that idea?
    – Kris
    Commented May 14, 2013 at 8:37
  • @Kris You said I was over-simplifying. That would be true if I were hiding an existing problem. As far as I can see, there isn't any problem, nor are you able to point out any specific problem.
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 14, 2013 at 11:16
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    I think ELU now has enough users with the necessary voting powers that on the rare occasions when a question is "incorrectly" closed, it can and will get reopened. Like kiamlaluno, I don't think being closed for the wrong reason is a significant problem, but where it is thought to be an issue, that can normally be dealt with by comments.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 13, 2013 at 0:33

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