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I've noticed and used the new (at least for me) button Leave Open, but I can't find any explanation as to the implication of clicking it.

I've found a highly voted question:

How about a “Vote not to close” option to counter the “Vote to close”?

...How about, as soon as there's one vote to close, there should be an option to counter the close vote, something like "vote not to close" or whatever. This would then bring the "Vote to close" number down by one.

Is this that is happening? Or something else?


By reading the FAQ, there's no mention to this new action... so I'm assuming that an update is coming to the last paragraph of Why are some questions closed?:

Users with 3000 reputation can cast up to 50 close votes per day. When a question reaches 5 close votes, it is marked as closed, and will no longer accept answers. Closed questions may be opened by casting reopen votes in the same manner. However, you may only vote to close or reopen a question once.

2 Answers 2

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Questions' close votes age away much slower if the question has less than 100 views, so as to give enough folks time to see and review it. Questions with close votes stay in the review queue until they are closed or the votes expire.

But if enough people (currently 3) select "Leave Open" within the review queue, the question will be immediately removed from the queue (not shown to any more reviewers) and the aging starts immediately.

This doesn't prevent it from being closed, mind you - if someone visits the question directly and votes to close it, that'll both count toward the 5 votes needed to close it and stall the aging for another four days (14 days if it has less than 100 views) - but it will both reduce the number of people viewing it and hasten the removal of votes on questions for which there is clearly no support for closing.

See also: 26,000 questions have close votes, now what?

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  • Tks for the clarification! Do you know if the FAQ eventually be updated regarding this new option?
    – Zuul
    Jul 15, 2012 at 21:13
  • 1
    @Zuul: we'll be beefing up the docs for it as we move toward full deployment; right now, mostly interested in seeing how folks use it (without yards of external documentation) and what breaks.
    – Shog9
    Jul 15, 2012 at 21:15
  • So at the moment there is no difference between Do Not Close and Not Sure?
    – Bob
    Jul 24, 2012 at 14:29
  • 2
    @Bob: yes, there is - for starters, you don't get any review credit for "not sure". But more importantly, "Do Not Close" keeps a record of who disagrees with closure - you can definitely expect this to influence the likelihood of the question being closed in the future.
    – Shog9
    Jul 25, 2012 at 17:12
  • @Shog9: Do diamond mods get a "supervote" on the "Do Not Close" button?
    – user102937
    Oct 17, 2012 at 21:19
  • @Robert yes they do
    – Shog9
    Oct 17, 2012 at 23:41
  • Now that "Do Not Close" changed to "Leave Open" is this a good idea to edit all posts containing "Do Not Close"? Nov 12, 2012 at 7:29
  • Does choosing 'Edit' count as 'Leave Open'? Apr 9, 2013 at 4:03
  • Yes, @galacticninja
    – Shog9
    Apr 9, 2013 at 4:25
  • With the 14-day ageing window, it just moves it off the queue now?
    – random
    May 5, 2015 at 3:33
  • 1
    So two "Leave Open" votes have no effect? It would be better if there would be an effect already for this level. What about setting off close votes with leave open votes. Dec 4, 2015 at 12:33
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Is this that is happening?

I wish! As explained in New Feature: Community Review Tasks - Now in Beta:

"Do Not Close" just removes it from the queue right now -- it doesn't affect close votes.

2
  • Always forgetting to read the fine-print. Tks! :)
    – Zuul
    Jul 15, 2012 at 4:31
  • I've gone with Shog9♦ answer, but I've upvoted yours nonetheless. Tks again for pointing out the fine-print :)
    – Zuul
    Jul 15, 2012 at 21:15

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