I recently opened this question which another user correctly identified as a duplicate. I can't delete it because there is an answer so I just voted to close it. It still needs to wait for 4 more people to vote to actually close it.

Seems like it would make sense if the original poster thinks it ought to be closed, why are additional votes needed?

What do you guys think?


In lieu of waiting for 4 more individuals with adequate reputation to vote-to-close, there's also the option to get a moderator's attention. Moderators don't get close votes – they get a big stick that forces closure of a question, like, yesterday. (Separate issue: I wish moderators also had the option of using close votes, not just the big stick.)

So, while your suggestion has merit (+1), a workaround in this case is to flag your own post after you vote-to-close it. The flag will get a moderator's attention. (As did your meta post, BTW. Big stick to the rescue!)

  • moderators are there precisely because we need them to use a big stick when it is necessary -- be bold! – Jeff Atwood Aug 26 '11 at 2:51
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    @JeffAtwood Agreed, definitely. Yet sometimes a question is borderline and I'd like to vote-to-close to express a non-binding opinion. Otherwise affected OPs tend to complain about abuse of privileges if the closure wasn't community-driven. – Chris W. Rea Aug 26 '11 at 13:25
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    That's what comments are for. (Also, no need to use @user when only two people are talking -- who else could your comment have been directed to? It's an implicit reply..) – Jeff Atwood Aug 26 '11 at 18:22

An alternate answer that covers the literal question you asked:

Once people have invested in your question by posting answers, it's no longer purely yours to make decisions about; it's community property. So it would be inappropriate to allow the OP to unilaterally decide that their question deserves closure. Such a feature would open up other dysfunctional use cases as well, like OPs closing questions as soon as they get one answer that they like, thus locking out the possibility of better answers.

Insta-deletion is there, I think, to cover the case of buyer's remorse, but it only works when other people haven't invested in your question yet.

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