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I wanted to review a first post, and noticed that there were already a few close votes on it.

As I don't see anything outstanding that would warrant closing the question, but I don't do review that often, I was wondering what was the reason given to close this question. But I didn't see any obvious way to get to this information and I don't dare to click one the close button when I don't intend to cast a vote myself.

My current course of action would be to let this question as it is, but I am curious to know if there is a way to find out, as a reviewer, why people want to close a question.

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  • Can you link a specific question? As it is, we could only quote the guidelines in the Help Center for reasons.
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:03
  • @Rathony: I've added the link to the first post in question in my question.
    – Eldroß
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:07
  • 1
    I'd like to advise you to spend some time reviewing the posts that were closed previously and see the reasons from time to time. As time goes by, you will get more accustomed to those questions and reasons and feel more comfortable when casting your close-votes. It is better not to cast any vote when you are not sure.
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:20
  • @Rathony Votes of any kind should not be the subject of conjecture. If the information is not available to you, you may be wrong.
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:24
  • @AndrewLeach Where did I say votes of any kind are the subject of conjecture?
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:27
  • @Rathony You believed Mari-Lou had cast a vote. I don't think that information is available until the post is closed. (These comments are a bit off-topic as not related to the question; it's just a bit of advice that you should not attribute actions to people unless there is concrete evidence, which I don't believe there is in the case of close votes prior to closure.)
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:31
  • @AndrewLeach I see. I didn't say I am very sure. Anyway, I will delete the comment.
    – user140086
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 9:38
  • @Rathony I don't know what was said about me, but you can see I was the last one to cast the closing vote, which was POB. The OP made no attempt whatsoever to clarify, and the questions I asked were posted seven hours previously.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 20:21
  • @AndrewLeach - If one cares greatly who voted how, one can often get that information from the (is it) *history*(?). If it matters, which I don't think it does. But it is possible to see some of the close voters before the question is closed.
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Jan 21, 2016 at 4:37

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Clicking the "Close" link does not commit you to casting a close vote.

Once you click the link, a dialog will appear showing a list of close reasons. If others have cast close votes already, a number will appear next to the reason(s) that they selected. You can then X out of the dialog box instead of selecting your own reason and clicking the "Vote to Close" button.

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I voted to close. Out of the close reasons on offer, I checked "too broad".

Here are my reasons for the vote.

  1. The OP has not shown much effort in answering their own question prior to asking it. I believe potential answers will anyway build on resources available on the Internet, that are available to the OP too. They have not been consulted, as it appears.

  2. There are some posts at EL&U that are concerned with offensive language diachronically. Again, OP does not seem to have taken notice of them. This is an essential thing to do from the point of view of building a searchable Q&A database. We do not wish to repeat ourselves too often.

  3. It is not explained why the OP is interested in N.Carolina and Tennessee. There may be valid reasons but they have not been stated. As I remarked in comments, it is dubious whether there was a stable population at that time, that might constitute a regional dialect to ask about.

  4. The question seems mildly sensational to me. Swearwords are popular, "cheap" topic. I think it has a lot of potential for good, interesting questions, but this post as it stands does not seem to tend that way. It is also hard to see how to edit it into better shape, for lack of info.

NB. Each VTC is partly subjective. I have seen VTC's on questions that I did not understand, either. That is why it takes five of them to close the post.

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    I believe it is possible to see the breakdown of close votes once Close has been selected, right? Or is that just moderators?
    – Kit Z. Fox Mod
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 13:50
  • @KitZ.Fox I think little blue numbers appear next to already given reasons by any previous closevoters, yes. I am not sure whether some of these do not branch further in a second level. But I suppose one can track these down too without commititng oneself to actually voting. But I only voted a couple of times so far. Is it possible to retract a closevote (cast by mistake, or on second thoughts?)
    – anemone
    Commented Jan 20, 2016 at 17:07

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