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Question which inspired this: Why is .2 not a valid number for jquery.validate.js?

I recently came across a question which was a bit of a mess. It had a title which started with "Helpppp" and kind of went downhill from there. Within a few seconds it was at -5 votes, and I even voted to close because the question seemed a little useless and showed little effort.

However, while looking at the actual intention of the question, it became apparent to me that there was validity in the issue raised, and that it was unique to the site as far as I could tell.

I edited the title and content to properly convey the situation and that stopped the down votes and the close votes. It was sitting at -5 with (4) close votes. About 30 minutes after the edit the last close vote hit ( as I was writing this question actually ) and the question was closed.

So, the question is closed, and perhaps useless if the community decided to close it. But the main observation is that 80% of the close votes, and 71% of the downvotes, came when the question was of very poor quality. Once edited, I think it stands to help others, and I posted an answer which at least works if not solves the situation.

Should there be a way to affect close votes based on edits to questions, and if so should it be automated or manual?

Is the only way for this scenario to have removed the 4 close votes to have waited for the question to be fully closed so the reopen feature could do its job?

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With regards to your last line: yep, that's the only way. Or hope that it doesn't gather more than 4 and that the votes expire at some point. –  Bart May 21 '13 at 18:39
@Bart - I can understand that. I know that anything which could affect close votes would potentially be gamed or exploited so it makes sense. I guess I was just curious about removing perhaps some of the close votes, or maybe requiring more if there have been edits. –  Travis J May 21 '13 at 18:42
Users can already vote to leave a question open in the close vote review queue. This, with sufficient votes, would start the expiration of close votes earlier on. That seems sufficient I'd say. Or just keep an eye on the post and as soon as it's closed, vote to reopen in. –  Bart May 21 '13 at 18:44

1 Answer 1

up vote 8 down vote accepted

I find that leaving a comment saying you've edited the post to fix the problem greatly improves its chances at staying open.

That way other users can immediately see that the reason for those votes has been addressed, and they won't assume the votes are based on the current question version.

It also helps the OP (or others reading the question) write better questions for the site, and can contribute towards getting the question reopened if it does get closed anyways.

My standard comment usually includes

  • that it was edited
  • what the problem was with the post
  • what I did to fix it
  • (if closed) that I voted to reopen it

and typically looks something like this:

Hi @username, I've made an edit to your question to [address issue here] because [insert reason why here]. If I've changed your question too much, feel free to [edit] it further or roll back the changes. [If closed: I've voted to reopen your question, but it still needs 4 other reopen votes by other community members.] Good luck in finding an answer. :)

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