418

I think moderators should have the ability to cast a normal, non binding close and open vote like they were a normal user (while of course retaining their ability to cast a binding vote where necessary).

This can be used in "grey areas" where a moderator can choose to give his or her opinion, but not make a decision alone; a good example of this is Closed for “too localized” and by a single person is a bad decision.

This also helps in areas not so grey (questions that everyone would agree should be closed) since the OP has the time to see close (1) and possibly edit his or her question. The moderator can then optionally come back after a few minutes and close it for real if it's not improved (or maybe during that time other 4 people voted to close it).

This would also fit perfectly in Stack Overflow's official theory of moderation:

Since we’re about to add community moderators on both Stack Overflow and Server Fault, I need to document what it is, exactly, we expect moderators to do.

The short answer is, as little as possible!

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  • 9
    I'm not a mod yet, but yes I'd definitely want it to be this way because I don't like having quite that much power
    – Earlz
    Mar 3, 2010 at 23:30
  • 21
    @earl, there's a difference between being a mod, and having more than 10k rep
    – juan
    Mar 3, 2010 at 23:36
  • 4
    I like this, but moderators only should be interested in this (why so many votes?)
    – juan
    Mar 5, 2010 at 18:54
  • 5
    @Downvoter: this puzzles me as well. I kinda wonder if there are folks unhappy with moderator behavior who hope that a feature like this would encourage moderators not to use their moderator abilities... but that's not a good solution; if moderators are making bad calls, then they need to be educated or removed, not hamstrung.
    – Shog9
    Mar 6, 2010 at 2:15
  • 17
    @downvoter The up-votes come in just because it sounds like a reasonable idea, that's all.
    – cregox
    Mar 11, 2010 at 23:23
  • 9
    Dont forget mods are humans too! Except for @random
    – Ivo Flipse
    Mar 30, 2010 at 21:40
  • 3
    Regarding the edit: as little as possible, in the case of close-voting, equates to not voting...
    – Shog9
    Jul 24, 2010 at 21:12
  • 6
    Kop - agreed with @Shog9. The hardest part for new moderators is usually to tone down the voting. They should place a close vote only if the community did too, in my opinion. Questions should not be closed only by moderators, aside from cases when it's obvious and potentially harmful for the site to keep it open.
    – Gnoupi
    Jul 25, 2010 at 8:51
  • 4
    @Kop - I'm against this proposal too. In my opinion, there is no sense for a moderator to cast a normal vote. That's not his job. It's like saying "oh, I'm a moderator but I'm not so sure, I'll just cast a normal vote, and be like another 3k user". No, that's not the moderator's task. In doubt, a moderator should simply not intervene and let the community do its job. Moderators should act only when there is a dysfunction, or to help the community (like on SU, to close a question with 2-3 close votes).
    – Gnoupi
    Jul 25, 2010 at 14:27
  • 3
    @Kop: if the goal was to "speed up" closing, then there are much more direct and effective ways to accomplish that... But moderators are not supposed to function as an accelerant! As @Gnoupi states, they're around to prevent things from spinning out of control... So if there are too few close-voters to control the duplicate/off-topic questions, they need to step in; if there aren't enough flaggers to keep spam out, they need to step in; if close-wars/edit-wars/flame-wars are raging, they need to step in... Otherwise, they have no business interfering.
    – Shog9
    Jul 25, 2010 at 18:51
  • 7
    @Shog9: I can't say I don't agree, but now I'm puzzled as to why you don't want them to act as normal users. They can cast a normal vote (like they would if they weren't mods) and they wouldn't interfere. The list of people who voted to close won't appear until the thread is closed, so I don't understand what harm it can possibly do. Jul 25, 2010 at 20:49
  • 4
    @Kop: The point I was trying to make in my answer here is that they can't act as normal users. So long as they have that diamond next to their name, every action they take will be seen differently from that of a normal user, even if the immediate results are the same. "Obviously this should be re-opened - Gnoupi wasn't even confident enough to cast more than one vote!" If they want to act as normal users, there's a simple and effective way to do so: resign their moderator appointment.
    – Shog9
    Jul 25, 2010 at 21:05
  • 6
    @Shog9: that's a little excessive. With that reasoning they shouldn't answer questions either, should they? I'm absolutely sure for example moderators are more likely to be upvoted than normal users. Yes, it's not going to be exactly the same as if they were normal users, but I believe not letting them contribute (and a normal close vote is a contribution) is not worth it. (Also, what you said can be applied to everything: edits, comments, etc. Basically if you take your reasoning far enough they should have an account they use only for moderation purposes and nothing else) Jul 25, 2010 at 21:10
  • 17
    We really need this on SE 2.0 beta sites.
    – user50049
    Jul 31, 2010 at 19:30
  • 17
    This is needed on new sites, as there are very few users that have enough rep to "vote to close". So without the Mods being able to vote, it can take a long time to get enough votes. Oct 11, 2010 at 18:12

17 Answers 17

171

It can be difficult to transition into the moderator role after having only been a lowly plebe. If I were moderator, I'd expect to have a transition period where I was accidentally closing questions unilaterally when I only wanted to be 1/5th of the party closing a question.

While moderators should only have to jump in for extraordinary cases, it would be nice if they had the ability to participate as 'normal' users.

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  • 47
    Agreed. Moderators should be able to be ordinary users the majority of the time, only stepping into mod-mode when necessary.
    – mmyers
    Mar 3, 2010 at 23:15
  • 4
    @mmyers - that being said, keep their job easy - they shouldn't have to do more work (ie, mod menus, or switching to mod mode) just to do real work.
    – Pollyanna
    Mar 3, 2010 at 23:42
  • 22
    While there are cases where I know I can close without a problem, there will always be questions that require a judgement call by other community members. Now I have to resort to flagging or commenting, since I can't cast a "first" vote...
    – Ivo Flipse
    Mar 4, 2010 at 9:58
  • 5
    @Ivo - yeah, if I were a mod I'd miss the ability to direct the community more gently by participating in a normal close/open process.
    – Pollyanna
    Mar 4, 2010 at 14:52
  • @Dominic - I thank thee for the thee --> the correction.
    – Pollyanna
    Mar 4, 2010 at 15:32
  • 5
    @Ivo: remember that SU is the special capabilities child of the group. Mod work is required there, rather than nice to have.
    – perbert
    Mar 5, 2010 at 18:00
  • 5
    Adam: normally, moderators should be users who could already vote to close. So the "transition period" would be the time spent on the site between hitting 3K and being elected. As for participating as a normal user... Moderators can still ask and answer questions just as any user can; they get no special privileges there. NO ONE - whether moderator or not - should be voting to close questions they don't actually believe are unsuitable - if you're doing that as a normal user, you should think twice before accepting the duties of a moderator.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 17:12
  • 4
    @shog9 But as a non-mod I can vote to close questions that I wholeheartedly believe are unsuitable but where I also think others will disagree with me, and see how things pan out. A mod can't do that, not the latter part at least. On sites with a lack of high rep, non mod users that is a shame.
    – Rob Moir
    May 24, 2011 at 18:48
  • 3
    @Robert: we make sure all sites have multiple moderators, so you can rest assured that someone can not only disagree with you but actually do something about it. On a site with too few high-rep users, reducing the ability of moderators to close would simply mean controversial questions never get closed (and quite possibly never get seriously discussed or defended). The solution (to pretty much every problem raised in this question) is more users voting (to close or re-open) - if this happened, moderators would have no reason to close at all under normal circumstances.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 18:56
  • 1
    @shog9 - I understand what you're saying, I'm just not sure I agree. I fail to see why having the ability to vote "normally" on a question as well as to swing the mod hammer would be a problem.
    – Rob Moir
    May 24, 2011 at 19:04
  • 2
    @Robert: it's not having the ability that's the problem. It's using it! Voting to close isn't about coming to a consensus on the worth of a question - that's what comments and meta discussions are for. Voting is just friction, added to the system to keep normal users from getting into close-reopen wars over controversial questions.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 19:16
  • 2
    @Shog9 wait a second... <s>A herecy! Exterminate!</s> How is voting not coming to a concensus? It's essentially a streamlined way to do so, way faster than typing/delving through comments each time. Comments are used to supplement it when the stock formulations are not quite adequate. Mar 9, 2016 at 1:47
  • Unless / until everyone votes, all you have is a straw poll, @ivan_pozdeev. There are way more than 5 people using these sites at any given moment.
    – Shog9
    Mar 9, 2016 at 17:30
  • 1
    @Shog9 still, a consensus of several unrelated people is supposedly more resistant to judgement mistakes (including personal bias) than one person. Mar 9, 2016 at 20:14
  • Yes, @ivan_pozdeev: the idea is that among multiple voters, bias tends to even out a bit. It still exists, it's just smoother.
    – Shog9
    Mar 10, 2016 at 2:18
45

New Edit -- Since this issue keeps coming up, I'll make a few points, based on my experience as a moderator.

As a moderator, the actions I take are almost always initiated by a moderator flag. That means that my moderator actions are never unilateral. There is always concurrence from at least one other person in the community when I take a moderator action.

I moderate based on what the FAQ says, on community consensus established here on meta, and on the primary mission of StackOverflow, which is to provide a high-quality resource for programmers. Based on those principles, if I agree with the flag, I take action, using my binding vote. If I have a doubt, I generally don't take action at all, and leave it for the community to decide.

While moderators should be called upon to mediate exceptional situations, many moderator flags and actions are uncontroversial and unexceptional; they have more to do with sweeping the floors than they have to do with weighty issues such as inclusionism and exclusionism. Having binding moderator votes results in a system that is simple, swift and effective. It makes it possible for the moderators to take out the trash, in a way that the ordinary user never even has to see it or be bothered by it.

That's good for everyone.


Original post follows:


This is a good idea. If I might put myself in the moderator's shoes for a moment...

As a new moderator, I might not fully understand the impact of my close votes (they close the question immediately). This changes the way that I interact with the community; I can no longer cast close votes in the same manner than I did before, because they carry more weight now. In a way, becoming a moderator has taken away my ability to interact with the community as a normal user.

The purpose of moderation is not to interact with the community as a "super" user. The purpose of moderation is to mitigate extraordinary problems or exceptional disputes, situations that cannot be handled by the system under ordinary circumstances. In my view, that means that the activities of a moderator under normal circumstances must touch the system in the same way as that of other users.

In other words, moderators should be able to take off their moderator hat, if they wish to interact with the community in a non-moderator fashion, without the undue additional influence of moderator powers.


Original text follows:

I have noticed that, since the moderator elections occurred, some moderators have been making use of their new moderator powers by unilaterally closing questions.

While I certainly assert the right for moderators to do so, I am of the opinion that, unless a question is an especially egregious case of system abuse (i.e. obvious spam), that it should be left to the community to cast its own votes, and decide for itself whether a question gets closed or not.

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    You make it sound like they are abusing power rather than just doing their jobs. This idea is a good one to allow for mods who aren't sure if its a black and white issue to cast a vote and see if others chime in.
    – RSolberg
    Mar 3, 2010 at 22:49
  • 2
    @Chester: I am saying that, by becoming a moderator, they are losing the ability to cast a single vote. That doesn't mean they should just cast five. And if they are casting five votes without allowing the community to weigh in, then yes, it is an abuse of power.
    – user102937
    Mar 3, 2010 at 22:49
  • @Robert: You're saying that Jonathan is voting to close the same post 5 times? Or that a moderator's vote is worth 5 people?
    – RSolberg
    Mar 3, 2010 at 22:52
  • 1
    It might not be the fault of the new moderators. The system may be design in such a way that close votes are not revocable, even for a moderator. If I was a user for a long time, and I suddenly became a moderator, the instinct to vote-to-close would still be there...Oops, I just cast all five votes. My bad.
    – user102937
    Mar 3, 2010 at 22:52
  • @Chester: A moderator's close vote closes the question instantly. If no one else has voted yet, that's the equivalent of five votes to close by ordinary users.
    – user102937
    Mar 3, 2010 at 22:53
  • 4
    @Chester: a moderator's vote is worth 5 people.
    – perbert
    Mar 3, 2010 at 23:14
  • 5
    Back off of your "new moderator" tone a bit. Moderators are part of the community, the system design sucks in the sense that they only can cast a "moderator" vote and not a "community" vote like the rest of us. But your tone simply sucks.
    – RSolberg
    Mar 4, 2010 at 1:47
  • 9
    @Chester: what tone? I'm simply making some observations. I have no personal beef with the moderators, but the new crop of elected moderators has closed some questions much more aggressively than I have ever seen before, and that concerns me. The community is already heavily weighted towards high-rep users; it doesn't need any more weighting in that direction. I'm not going to mince words about that just because you don't think my tone is "right."
    – user102937
    Mar 4, 2010 at 2:25
  • 4
    @Chester: reading this thread again, the one that sounds confrontational is you...
    – perbert
    Mar 5, 2010 at 4:10
  • @Voyage: I have noticed that, since the moderator elections occurred, some moderators have been making use of their new moderator powers by unilaterally closing questions. I guess you must think that this is not accusatory, has merit, and words like unilateral must support positive actions?
    – RSolberg
    Mar 5, 2010 at 16:06
  • 4
    @Chester: unilateral involving only one part or side One person closing a question is unilateral. I believe that it's not accusatory, but rather a concern that moderators, not realizing that the best moderation is the one that goes unnoticed or without incidents, nor that they now have some more power than before, they might need to refrain from making things like casting a close vote in a question that no one else has voted on and that seems to be active. I believe a mod should use its super-voting powers only when the community fails to police itself.
    – perbert
    Mar 5, 2010 at 16:39
  • @Voyager: Moderators by default have always been able to cast a vote that will automatically make their decision the decision. This is not a premeditated power play, it is being a moderator. The tool sets the mods have today only support this type of functionality, therefore, it is not unilateral, it is being a moderator.
    – RSolberg
    Mar 5, 2010 at 18:34
  • 5
    @Chester: I'm not sure what to make of your discomfort with voyager's observance that this spade is, in fact, a spade. Rest assured, calling it something else doesn't change what it is.
    – Shog9
    Mar 5, 2010 at 19:25
  • 2
    @yhw42: See my edit.
    – user102937
    Jun 3, 2011 at 17:02
  • 6
    For a new site with a low number of users, mods often are closing quesions that have not been flagged yet. I agree with what you said for large sites. Nov 4, 2011 at 10:10
38

This can be used in "grey areas" where a moderator can choose to give his or her opinion but not make a decision alone.

I don't see the point. Moderators can already leave comments, thus making their opinions known, just like normal users. Moderators can edit poorly-worded questions, just like normal users.

And moderators can instantly re-open questions that they've closed if it becomes clear that they acted hastily in closing a question... Unlike normal users.

In what way are moderators currently prevented from expressing their opinions?

This also helps in areas not so grey (questions that everyone would agree should be closed) since the OP has the time to see close (1) and possibly edit his or her question.

Again, they can leave a comment... which can be a whole lot more visible to the OP than a tiny (1) next to the close button, not to mention potentially more helpful (especially for new users who won't see close reasons anyway).


There was a story on the local news here recently... A bit of controversy surrounding the actions of an elected official. Seems a district attorney became uncomfortable when a business which dispensed certain botanical products opened in his neighborhood. While these products and the business of dispensing them for medical purposes are legal in this city and state, the DA was not happy seeing such trade being conducted openly... and so he began making complaints to the shop's landlord and various city officials. While doing so, he insisted that he was acting as a private citizen and not in his official capacity as a district attorney...

Of course, ordinary citizens don't garner the attention of city officials in quite the same way as someone who works closely with them on a regular basis. And complaints from ordinary citizens don't generally carry the same sort of weight with other ordinary citizens as do those coming from a person elected to prosecute criminals.


Like it or not, when a moderator expresses their opinion on SO, it is going to carry additional weight. Even if that opinion is expressed in a comment, even without an explicit threat attached, there's always an implication of potential consequences. When you or I say we think a post should be closed, or opened, or locked, or deleted... well, that's mostly just talk. We can vote on some of that, but generally speaking we don't have the power to enforce it. A moderator can however, and thus their words, like their actions, carry more weight.

When I cast a vote to open or close a post, I do so because I think it should be opened or closed. Moderators should do the same, but with the understanding that they, unlike the rest of us, can respond quickly to correct improper actions and should respond to public outcry, since it is the public, the ordinary users of Stack Overflow, who have granted them this privilege and responsibility. As much as I disagree with some actions taken by moderators, I would not ask them to relinquish their abilities or shirk their responsibilities; rather, when unsure what actions should be taken, they should take no action at all, preferring to let the community do what it desires.

29
  • 14
    The issue is that once you become moderator you lose the ability to just participate as a normal, high-rep user. This is sometimes desiderable. Mar 5, 2010 at 18:52
  • 34
    When I cast a vote to open or close a post, I do so because I think it should be opened or closed. Moderators should do the same - that's the problem - moderators don't get to vote. Their decision is effective immediately. Letting them vote or act would be the better choice, I think. Mar 5, 2010 at 19:07
  • 11
    @Jared: that's my point - they shouldn't even think of it in terms of voting. If a moderator is certain that a question should be closed, then he should just close it. A moderator who would cast one vote when he could cast 5 shouldn't vote at all. @Koper: They aren't normal users, and can't pretend to be.
    – Shog9
    Mar 5, 2010 at 19:22
  • 7
    Well said. Also, it is interesting how rarely people notice when we re-open posts we closed. If there is a valid enough reason, any moderator will review their own decision, or ask another moderator to intervene. Strangely enough, we get elected because the community consider us to meet the requirements for being a moderator, but once we are chosen and in that role, we become public enemy number one. Mar 5, 2010 at 20:36
  • 4
    @Diago: there are a lot of good and useful things that moderators do but which don't get much attention because unless you're looking for them they're easy to miss. Moderator-led closing has to be visible on SU, and so there's an unavoidable level of grief as a result; on SO, I haven't see nearly as much of it.
    – Shog9
    Mar 6, 2010 at 2:19
  • 3
    Agreed with all that. It makes no sense for a moderator to cast regular votes, there's a community for that. Becoming a moderator means acting differently, in terms of site moderation. It's not a matter of "democratic vote" anymore. Moderators are supposedly above that, and should act only when there is a dysfunction, something requiring instant action, or when the community doesn't manage to deal with it itself (like on SU, when there are not enough 3k users to close a question).
    – Gnoupi
    Jul 25, 2010 at 14:35
  • 3
    sometimes unilateral actions can look arrogant. It is OK that mod has additional wait, but they should also be able to live like normal people. Think of a policeman who wears his uniform all the time even when he is not on work, that can create a distance between mod and the rest of the rest of the community.
    – Kaveh
    Nov 3, 2011 at 23:48
  • 1
    So it's better for a mod to leave a comment, which will carry additional weight because of the diamond, than to cast an anonymous-until-complete close vote to prompt the poster and community to consider action? Jul 30, 2012 at 12:41
  • 6
    @Monica: If you think a post should be closed, close it. If you just want to suggest that a post should be closed, leave a comment - and then close it. If you aren't really sure if a post should be closed, but feel there are problems with it that should be addressed, leave a comment pointing out the problems and suggesting improvements, and don't mention closing.
    – Shog9
    Jul 30, 2012 at 19:11
  • 3
    If a mod closes your question on his own, it might be a case of partiality, since only one person was involved. It shouldn't be, but it is more likely to feel as such to a newbie whose question got closed, hence the demonstrate part. If your question doesn't get closed despite a mod voting to do so, you'll never know the fact. Other voters also won't know it was a mod who voted, so they can't be influenced either. As such, your "extra weight" comparison falls flat, since there is no opportunity for the weight to weigh in.
    – Jasper
    Jul 19, 2013 at 1:51
  • 2
    That's bogus, @Jasper. You aren't making yourself impartial by voting to deny someone something they want - you're just hiding in a crowd. As for supporting a community cleanup effort... I've helped to organize and taken part in a lot of these, and no one is going to thank you for making such an effort take longer or require more effort than it already needs to.
    – Shog9
    Jul 19, 2013 at 2:07
  • 1
    Seriously? What word would that be? Let me summarize the discussion: 1: I challenge claim (a) because of (b). 2: (c)! 1: Perhaps. I don't agree, but your opinion is (c), it doesn't make (a) an truer, though. 2: (c)! 1: Let's consider (a) disproven. 2: One word... dictionary... (which I really can't connect with the discussion)
    – Jasper
    Jul 19, 2013 at 2:12
  • 1
    @Shog9 Sometimes it isn't clear-cut, and I want a second opinion. Preferably, a third, fourth and fifth as well. Ordinarily I have two options: constantly patrol the CV queue until close (4) before casting my vote; and waiting for somebody to VTC to add it to the queue. Sometimes this doesn't happen for a few days. Unfortunately, as even flagging to close counts as a unilateral decision, I have to either take unilateral action or not. Moderators, especially new moderators, often do not have unilateral opinions to go with their unilateral votes.
    – wizzwizz4
    Dec 3, 2017 at 20:20
  • 2
    @Shog9 Ok. I'll perform the action most likely to bring it to the attention of the most users who have knowledge around CV, such as "unclearness". Instead of posting a localised question on a largely inactive meta where most non-mod answers take 2-3 days to be posted, or largely inactive chatroom. Or, I could put it into the dedicated queue with a CV. Five "probably"s are better than one "almost definitely".
    – wizzwizz4
    Dec 4, 2017 at 7:40
  • 2
    @Shog9 That's after two days. Two days is too long to wrongly leave a question open if there's any reason to close it, and too long to wrongly leave a question closed. This isn't as much of an issue now the site's scope has become better defined and I have more experience, but it really was this time last year.
    – wizzwizz4
    Dec 5, 2017 at 8:06
29

Arguments that have been stated so far against the request are not dealing with the point that why a mod should ALWAYS use binding mod powers. Being trustable, not fearing to act in necessary cases, carry more wait, usefulness of these powers, how some moderators use these powers, ability to use comments to express opinion, ... don't deal with the main point of the request which is the possibility to act like a normal user without invoking binding awesome moderator powers.

In most cases there is no need to use mod powers. I don't find these arguments very convincing about why a mod should not be able to act as a normal user when using the site. A moderator is in the first place a user of the site.

Maybe there is technical problem about implementing this which I am not familiar with, but the philosophical and policy arguments given so far are not very convincing.

3
  • 6
    Essentially, the suggestion is about being able to use the principle of the least privilege. Mar 9, 2016 at 1:51
  • 4
    Other objections argue that mods don't have time to act on anything other than mod flags or allowing then to do other work would distract them from carrying out their duties. But aren't they big enough boys to decide that for themselves? Mar 9, 2016 at 1:54
  • 2
    Besides, the same goes for all the privileges that "override" lesser ones (edit, vote to close, etc.), not just mods' binding votes, thus the target audience for the suggestion is actually all the active members. Mar 9, 2016 at 1:56
24

A moderator's job is to intervene under exceptional circumstances, but they are still a member of the community just like the rest of us. We elected them because we trust their judgement. When a post is flagged, we trust them to decide if the flagged post warrants intervention and moderation. If it does, then we trust them to decide how to intervene.

Most circumstances are not exceptional. Most crappy posts are just normal crappy posts that do not require intervention. The vote-to-close system works for the most part. Sometimes it goes haywire, with vote-to-close/vote-to-reopen wars flaming up here and there. Sometimes people go way off the deep end in being offensive. Usually this is not so. Most crappy posts are just crappy posts that the community can cull.

As has been referenced elsewhere, Jeff has said in the past that a moderator should do "as little as possible" and that "Moderators are human exception handlers." He said himself that the conditions under which a moderator must moderate are "rare."

A moderator must have the ability to act as a normal user because they are not just a normal user. They have more power, and their decisions are binding when they act as moderator. This is a good thing, but if they don't have the capacity to act in a non-binding way then they end up applying "exception handling" to non-exceptional circumstances.

This is not fair to the moderators, because it puts an unintended burden upon them to moderate everything. Every single vote they cast is law. They can no longer contribute to the community, they can only govern it.

It is also not fair to the rest of the community. If a moderator closes a standard crappy post in one place but not all of the others, they apply their moderation abilities arbitrarily. Arbitrary governance is unfair and unjust.

This issue should be revisited.

Cross Reference: Moderators should not close crap, flamebait questions, let the community . Please read the comment chains to understand the thinking!

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  • 5
    "As little as possible" when it comes to closing is... not closing, not voting to close, not posting comments suggesting the post be closed, not flagging for a moderator to close, and not sitting and brooding about the sad state of a world where a post isn't closed. "As little as possible" is... nothing. Except when inaction conflicts with a moderator's duty to the site (stepping in where the community has failed) - in that case, "as little as possible" is... Simply closing and moving on. But I can think of no scenario where it equates to "a token gesture".
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 15:00
  • 2
    "As little as possible" obviously refers to exercising one's abilities as moderator. It does not mean not acting as a normal user of the site. A moderator should have the ability to act as a normal user. May 24, 2011 at 15:03
  • 2
    @John: because "why the downvotes" are useless noise. Ask for feedback if you want feedback, or just wait for it (since this is Meta and you'll pretty much always get it anyway).
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 15:05
  • 11
    @John: please see my answer here. A moderator is elected to moderate, not sit around waiting for consensus on every action. Allowing moderators to engage in such a charade is counter-productive - if they can't or won't moderate, they shouldn't be moderators.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 15:07
  • 2
    @Shog: I saw your answer. It is essentially saying "I have power, you don't. Deal with it." May 24, 2011 at 15:13
  • 1
    @Shog: You are raising a bunch of strawmen. Obviously not nuking a normal crappy question isn't "sitting around waiting." Just vote-to-close. May 24, 2011 at 15:14
  • 9
    @John: Your mistake is in thinking that moderators are acting arbitrarily. There's nothing random about how we moderate. We pick and choose what posts to moderate based on what the community flags for our attention. We simply don't have time to moderate 1.6 million questions based on our own personal whims. We're directed by the community. May 24, 2011 at 15:25
  • 8
    @John: I posted that answer before I had mod-rights on any site... And "vote to close" is a compromise that was implemented in response to a series of close-wars; it's hardly an efficient or effective use of anyone's time. If a moderator isn't certain that a question is inappropriate, he should ask for advice or just move on - that is "as little as possible". If a moderator is certain, then "voting" instead of taking decisive action is no more than a pageant.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 15:30
  • 12
    Moderators make decisions. Not uhms and ahs. If they come across a crap question, either through normal use or via flags, they decide how it should go. If a moderator needs hand-holding on questions that clearly don't belong, they need to toughen up.
    – random
    May 24, 2011 at 15:39
  • 6
    @Kop: I always talk like I'm right when I actually believe what I'm saying (and when I'm trying to flush out reasoned rebuttals). I'll change my mind when someone posts an answer here that makes sense to me. 100 people liking a bad idea doesn't make it any less of a bad idea.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 16:49
  • 6
    @Kop: if you're talking about Adam's answer, I've left a comment there. FWIW, I understand why the idea is appealing - I just think it's terribly misguided, and quite possibly based on the dangerous idea that voting (rather than taking unilateral action) somehow absolves you of responsibility for your actions. If you close a question - whether alone or with the cooperation of other users - you should be willing to stand behind that decision, justify it to other users, listen to reasoned arguments against it, and potentially take steps to reverse it if persuaded that that is the proper action.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 17:16
  • 5
    @John: how are you being logical? How does your statement of trust (first paragraph) fit with the example you gave (wherein you chastise a moderator for closing a question you yourself admit is worthless)? How does "A moderator must have the ability to act as a normal user because they are not just a normal user" make any sense at all? I'm sorry if I came off as dismissive, but... You dove in here apparently without reading any of the previous discussions, without so much as an example of a moderator who would have wished to use such a feature... Please, explain your logic here.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 19:51
  • 2
    @John: certainly. But remember, anyone voting to close, or re-open, or flagging is picking up another "hat" - opting in for the janitorial work in addition to the student/teacher roles that make up the core of the site. We try hard to emphasize that users who become moderators should already be moderating, so that once elected or appointed they can hit the ground running. Again: no one should be voting to close or open a question they don't think should be open or closed, regardless of how much their vote "counts" - that goes for moderator-led moderation and community-led moderation.
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 22:04
  • 3
    @John: I'm still not following your logic then. Moderator abilities are a superset of those available to a normal (albeit high-rep) user, with limitations removed from certain tools (closing, re-opening, flagging, deletion): we trust (see your first paragraph) moderators to use their discretion. If this is not the case, if a moderator is not acting in the community's interest, then they shouldn't be moderating!
    – Shog9
    May 25, 2011 at 19:10
  • 2
    @Jasper: you think voting is the only way to acknowledge or trust the group? Please read this and then this - in particular, the list that starts with "As a moderator, your actions now represent the community, so you will be held to a higher standard of behavior..." It's good advice for anyone stepping up to help moderate the site, but "diamond" moderators are held to this standard: a moderator must act according to the wishes of those he represents.
    – Shog9
    Jul 19, 2013 at 1:05
24

At the risk of reopening an old discussion, this would be very useful over at economics.SE (where I am currently a moderator) and I guess many of the other small sites now coming into the network.

There is often a good degree of subjectivity to the decision of whether a question should be closed or not, which makes me reluctant to act unilaterally. However, I do want to participate in voting because voting is an important way in which the community develops to be self-guiding and I want to lead from the front. This is even more important when I think a question should be re-opened, because being the first to vote would then instantly overturn the votes of several regular users.

My view is that the community at large should be able to do as much of the day-to-day shaping of the direction of their site as possible. The main role of mods should be to intervene in the event of obvious vandalism or policy violations.

21

I can fully understand that this functionality isn't useful for StackOverflow.

On the other hand I think it's very useful for a smaller website like Skeptics where the community wants to decide democratically whether or not to close a question. Doing it through regular votes seems to be a better way than having to do it on meta.

17

I still stand by my close-vote. However, I would like to be able to cast a normal vote from time to time. Every now and then I get lucky and come in after four close-votes.

The example question was reopened, and close-voted again by the community this time.

2
  • 1
    Yet now it's open. If you had stepped in now, after a few open/close cycles, this would have been a non-issue.
    – perbert
    Mar 5, 2010 at 16:41
  • 15
    @voyager Anytime a moderator does anything, it becomes an issue for somebody, and then they voice their complaints here :)
    – Sampson
    Mar 5, 2010 at 17:46
12

What I'd really like is to be able to sometimes have my vote count like four votes, if and only if it's the first vote passed. Then it still needs confirmation from at least one other user. The same applies to my 20K voting powers.

3
  • 3
    Perhaps allow a moderator choose how many votes get applied. Mar 31, 2010 at 0:17
  • 6
    this is why I only vote to close after someone else has, unless it's egregious. Mar 31, 2010 at 0:18
  • 6
    Ah, but I'm not always going to be around a few minutes later to check back. Mar 31, 2010 at 0:22
11

I would like to add a new answer with perspective from a site that only recently went into Beta. In the early stages there's a relatively small group of users (we have just over 1000 at Matter Modeling, as opposed to 68,000 on Chemistry and 202,000 on Physics). A few dozen of the 1000 users are regularly helping with the queues, but a much smaller subset of those users will have the knowledge to cast a "fair" close vote on a specific topic. Losing 3 voters (i.e. gaining 3 mods) can then make quite a difference, especially since these 3 mods happen to know about a few more sub-topics than the average user, so they would ordinarily be able to close vote more often. The mods (and the community, based on the election questionnaire) are not keen on closing questions uni-laterally rather than waiting for the normal 5 votes, so it would be nice if they could vote just like everyone else.

I admire Shog9 greatly, but here's where I disagree with what he wrote in his answer: Sure mods can write comments, but that's not the same as casting an anonymous vote. In fact a mod's comment has a diamond next to it and people might "vote close" or "leave open" based only on a mod's comment if they want to get on the mod's good side by often sharing close/re-open views with them (knowing that mods, and high-rep users, can see who's voted to close or leave open).

3
  • 3
    I agree with you. For a site during initial stages, it's important that the community decide the direction towards which the site should grow. Being a moderator I am hesitant to cast my vote since I don't wish to hijack our communities decision. This results in loss of valuable feedback from active members of the site
    – Thomas
    Jul 4, 2020 at 15:12
  • "are not keen on closing questions uni-laterally rather than waiting for the normal 5 votes" Why not? To quote Shog9: "they shouldn't even think of it in terms of voting. If a moderator is certain that a question should be closed, then he should just close it. A moderator who would cast one vote when he could cast 5 shouldn't vote at all."
    – Mast
    Aug 5, 2020 at 5:44
  • 1
    "Sure mods can write comments, but that's not the same as casting an anonymous vote." Close votes are not anonymous. Not as a user, not as a moderator.
    – Mast
    Aug 5, 2020 at 5:46
9

(Adapting my bounty message...) Can we reconsider this please? I have in mind Chinese.SE, which is a fairly small site.

I don't want to override the democratic process: five votes-to-close send a different message to a unilateral closure. It's more like gatekeeping than moderation.

Being closed by a diamond mod has a very different feel to being closed due to 5 normal community members agreeing.
nvoigt, RPG.SE Meta

I simply want users to participate and feel like their voting contributes meaningfully to the site. From a non-diamond user's perspective, if votes-to-close are always overridden, there's not a strong distinction between voting and not voting. (Voting to close is more like flagging for moderator attention.) The proposed feature would facilitate leading the community towards independent self-moderation.

I don't want this feature because I'm "unsure". Indeed, I could literally process all 8286 questions at Chinese.SE, and decide to leave open, close, or reopen every single question. (In fact, I plan to do something similar in stage 5 of the streamlining question closure roadmap.) The problem is not that I would close questions inappropriately, but that nobody else gets a say. Users don't add comments that explaining how they agree with diamond mod closures.

This is not a hypothetical problem; see Chinese.SE's 2019 stats:

                 Action                  Moderators Community¹
---------------------------------------- ---------- ----------
Questions closed                                 80          3
Questions reopened                                3          0  

2019: a year in moderation, Chinese.SE (see also On a small site, if almost all closed questions are closed using a diamond hammer, is this good or bad, and should anything be done?)

I intend to make efforts to help the site grow, but its dependence on diamond-hammer closures is not scalable (helicopter moderation); I need non-diamond moderators to take responsibility here.

Yes, there are workarounds:

  • I can create a sockpuppet to achieve this goal, but it's a waste of time, and feels inappropriate.
  • I can carefully wait until I'm the 5-th voter, which is also a waste of time.
  • I can nag-to-close (via comments, meta, chat).

We have a perfectly good review system: why not use it? (In fact, a previous feature request requested simply bumping to the review queue.)

(PS.: diamond downvotes don't analogously count for 5 downvotes. It's proof-of-concept that not every diamond moderator decision carries extra weight.)

5
  • Unfortunately, as is, the team isn't likely to consider this: this question has already been tagged as declined, and so is already out of the team's radar. A better way would be to create a new, separate reconsideration request. Aug 5, 2020 at 6:41
  • 1
    Excellent research; kudos! However, it strikes me that the problem here is that the close vote threshold is too high for the number of active voters; even with moderators casting non-binding votes, this would remain an issue. I'm happy to see that lowering the threshold feature into your roadmap.
    – Shog9
    Aug 5, 2020 at 6:42
  • I don't think it's too few users: e.g. this question was recently voted-to-close (x5), edited, then voted-to-reopen (x5) by non-diamond users. They exist, but hesitate to vote (I'm trying to help them by clarifying close reasons). All three diamonds are highly active users, but we only have diamond hammers. Diamond-hammering e.g. What does this Chinese CAPTCHA say? won't remedy the lack of community engagement in self-moderation whereby clear-cut off-topic questions like this remain open. Aug 5, 2020 at 8:14
  • @SonictheCuriouserHedgehog: "this question has already been tagged as declined" - yes, because Jeff unilaterally decided that he didn't like it.
    – Vikki
    Feb 19, 2021 at 0:22
  • 1
    @Sean What I was saying is, due to the declined tag, this question is no longer in SE's internal tracker, and therefore not likely to make it into consideration by an SE team member. For that to happen, a new request needs to be filed. As I linked there, it's perfectly valid to make a new feature request that asks to reconsider a past declined request. Feb 19, 2021 at 0:24
7

+1 here, I agree. What I would hate to see, though, is a flame war against a mod where someone thinks that they're being singled out when a mod chooses to use their mod-close-vote.

But we all know our mods have tough skin to deal with that :)

5

There is no way for a moderator to cause a question to go to the close queue. However, a mod can cause a question to go to the reopen queue by editing the post and checking the box that the edit fixes the post. This is because it does not cast a reopen vote — the post will need to get all its reopen votes from the community unless a mod decides to cast their own binding vote.

An example: Oxymoron pronunciation (timeline)


There isn't a mechanism like this for closing. As a gold tag badge holder and moderator, I typically leave a comment explaining my thoughts on borderline questions that may need to be closed.

2

This can be used in "grey areas" where a moderator can choose to give his or her opinion

A moderator can simulate having a single vote: i.e. to express an opinion, comment or downvote -- don't vote immediately, instead wait until/unless there are three or four other close vote from users -- and then cast the last (binding) vote.

You can also discuss the post on Meta (or in chat), and hold off on voting until you get some consensus there.

1

Assuming moderators know how to reach one another through email or whatever:

Would it help if a moderator-vote would count as 3 or 4 normal votes? And hence requiring at least one other person to vote?

(Of course that implies a moderator might need to get in touch with another moderator for urgent things, which, I guess, is not too nice. At all. So I doubt it would help; still maybe moderators feel differently?)

1
  • 8
    Mods can also flag posts for other mods to check out.
    – random
    Mar 31, 2010 at 0:40
1

I like the current way it is, as a moderator you should be trusted to make judgement calls, you are where the buck stops.

Making these kind of day-to-day decisions subject to committees is paralyzing.

I would like to close this question but only if others do, sounds extremely wussy to me. Make a decision, and stand behind it.

0
-6

The purpose of moderators is to moderate.

If they are afraid to do so, they should not be moderators in the first place.

As for educating the community, leaving instructive, explanatory comments is far more useful than casting a weak regular user vote in these circumstances.

So in summary: leave extensive comments, and learn to wield the big vote stick responsibly.

11
  • 55
    I strongly disagree with this. Moderators are also participants in the site. When I have people lightly misbehaving on my questions/answers, then either I can do nothing, or I can wield my super-mod-hammer and then have to deal with them getting hurt feelings and acting out in other Q's and on meta. Adding this feature could help people not get their fur ruffled as much and thus make all us mods' job easier and users happier.
    – mxyzplk
    Feb 17, 2011 at 14:33
  • 6
    @mxy if you want to educate, leave comments explaining your actions. Good moderators should be doing this anyway. Pretending to hide in the cloak of "oh, I'm just a regular user like you good folks" is an abdication of responsibility as a moderator. Feb 17, 2011 at 22:59
  • 31
    @Jeff: No. The purpose of a moderator is to intervene under exceptional circumstances. Most circumstances are not exceptional. A moderator should be able to act as a normal citizen most of the time, but when stuff hits the fan act as the one we turn to to make good decisions and carry out their duties. May 24, 2011 at 14:30
  • 1
    @John: we just added two more moderators to SO, because the work-load was so great. Even with a huge number of community members editing and voting to close, the shear volume of crap flooding into the site on a daily basis is insane. "Exceptional circumstances" here are any inappropriate questions that fall through the cracks - if only they were more exceptional...
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 15:36
  • 2
    @John: Having been a moderator for a few months now, I can tell you there are many questions that are (in your words) unexceptional, clearly off-topic questions that never achieve close velocity because they are too uninteresting to get enough views. I close them unilaterally, and I don't think twice about it.
    – user102937
    May 24, 2011 at 15:54
  • Beta site are different as there are often very few users that can vote to close - so by making someone a moderator there are even less people to do the "normal" closing. May 24, 2011 at 16:17
  • 3
    @Ian: the role of moderators on beta sites - especially early on - is a little different: traffic is lower, but (often, though not always) signal/noise is lower as well, since the site's definition is still in flux. I'd argue that unilateral closing is just as important, if not moreso, on the beta sites... But the importance of discussing the reasons for closing is much, much greater - moderators must be willing to address concerns raised by the community in response to their actions. Incidentally, we always appoint more than one pro tem moderator so that no one person is trusted with this
    – Shog9
    May 24, 2011 at 17:52
  • 10
    Jeff, moderators are not just moderators, they are in the first place users of the site. So saying that the purpose of moderators is to moderate is not the right attitude IMHO. Fearing and not using power unless it is necessary are different things.
    – Kaveh
    Nov 3, 2011 at 23:52
  • 10
    This is flat-out wrong. Lots of the mods on SciFi.SE, for example, have lamented in chat or on meta that they want to be a normal user most of the time, and only use binding votes when appropriate. They started as normal users, after all, and forcing binding votes onto them is a slight removal from the community.
    – Izkata
    Jul 21, 2013 at 18:13
  • 1
    So, what you're saying is that in situations where you want to leave a regular close vote, but don't want to unilaterally close the question, you should just leave a comment instead? Dec 4, 2013 at 22:41
  • The point of having moderators is to be “human exception handlers”: handle flags and other issues that the community cannot handle on its own. Still, moderators are part of the community and they should be able to do everything the community is able to do. Moderators are never expected to be subject-matter experts, so why are their close votes binding without an option to partially delegate the closure to the rest of the community? May 11, 2021 at 19:47

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