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Rather than checking at the time of closure, it seems like a better idea would be when a question is closed as a duplicate, look at the duplicate question(s) and clear / instantly age away any duplicate votes that point back to it.

• The votes are now invalid in a way. That question is no longer a valid duplicate target and the votes don't make sense anymore. We already do this for the similar situation of migration flags on questions which cross the maximum age threshold after the flag has been cast.

• It doesn't make much sense to let the fifth close vote override all of the other four close votes. That's one user saying something is unclear, where four other users just said it was a duplicate. Duplication doesn't inherently imply that the question should be closed for another reason, so that's essentially saying one user found it unclear and closed it unilaterally.

• Aging away the duplicate votes allows the users to eventually go back and re-cast close votes for other reasons if the question does need to be closed for some other reason other than being duplicated, in accordance with recent changes.

This has now been implemented. It won't affect past circular closures, but will prevent new ones from appearing.

Rather than checking at the time of closure, it seems like a better idea would be when a question is closed as a duplicate, look at the duplicate question(s) and clear / instantly age away any duplicate votes that point back to it.

• The votes are now invalid in a way. That question is no longer a valid duplicate target and the votes don't make sense anymore. We already do this for the similar situation of migration flags on questions which cross the maximum age threshold after the flag has been cast.

• It doesn't make much sense to let the fifth close vote override all of the other four close votes. That's one user saying something is unclear, where four other users just said it was a duplicate. Duplication doesn't inherently imply that the question should be closed for another reason, so that's essentially saying one user found it unclear and closed it unilaterally.

• Aging away the duplicate votes allows the users to eventually go back and re-cast close votes for other reasons if the question does need to be closed for some other reason other than being duplicated, in accordance with recent changes.

This has now been implemented. It won't affect past circular closures, but will prevent new ones from appearing.

Rather than checking at the time of closure, it seems like a better idea would be when a question is closed as a duplicate, look at the duplicate question(s) and clear / instantly age away any duplicate votes that point back to it.

• The votes are now invalid in a way. That question is no longer a valid duplicate target and the votes don't make sense anymore. We already do this for the similar situation of migration flags on questions which cross the maximum age threshold after the flag has been cast.

• It doesn't make much sense to let the fifth close vote override all of the other four close votes. That's one user saying something is unclear, where four other users just said it was a duplicate. Duplication doesn't inherently imply that the question should be closed for another reason, so that's essentially saying one user found it unclear and closed it unilaterally.

• Aging away the duplicate votes allows the users to eventually go back and re-cast close votes for other reasons if the question does need to be closed for some other reason other than being duplicated, in accordance with recent changes.

This has now been implemented. It won't affect past circular closures, but will prevent new ones from appearing.

Rather than checking at the time of closure, it seems like a better idea would be when a question is closed as a duplicate, look at the duplicate question(s) and clear / instantly age away any duplicate votes that point back to it.

• The votes are now invalid in a way. That question is no longer a valid duplicate target and the votes don't make sense anymore. We already do this for the similar situation of migration flags on questions which cross the maximum age threshold after the flag has been cast.

• It doesn't make much sense to let the fifth close vote override all of the other four close votes. That's one user saying something is unclear, where four other users just said it was a duplicate. Duplication doesn't inherently imply that the question should be closed for another reason, so that's essentially saying one user found it unclear and closed it unilaterally.

• Aging away the duplicate votes allows the users to eventually go back and re-cast close votes for other reasons if the question does need to be closed for some other reason other than being duplicated, in accordance with recent changes.

This has now been implemented. It won't affect past circular closures, but will prevent new ones from appearing.

Rather than checking at the time of closure, it seems like a better idea would be when a question is closed as a duplicate, look at the duplicate question(s) and clear / instantly age away any duplicate votes that point back to it.

• The votes are now invalid in a way. That question is no longer a valid duplicate target and the votes don't make sense anymore. We already do this for the similar situation of migration flags on questions which cross the maximum age threshold after the flag has been cast.

• It doesn't make much sense to let the fifth close vote override all of the other four close votes. That's one user saying something is unclear, where four other users just said it was a duplicate. Duplication doesn't inherently imply that the question should be closed for another reason, so that's essentially saying one user found it unclear and closed it unilaterally.

• Aging away the duplicate votes allows the users to eventually go back and re-cast close votes for other reasons if the question does need to be closed for some other reason other than being duplicated, in accordance with recent changes.

Rather than checking at the time of closure, it seems like a better idea would be when a question is closed as a duplicate, look at the duplicate question(s) and clear / instantly age away any duplicate votes that point back to it.

• The votes are now invalid in a way. That question is no longer a valid duplicate target and the votes don't make sense anymore. We already do this for the similar situation of migration flags on questions which cross the maximum age threshold after the flag has been cast.

• It doesn't make much sense to let the fifth close vote override all of the other four close votes. That's one user saying something is unclear, where four other users just said it was a duplicate. Duplication doesn't inherently imply that the question should be closed for another reason, so that's essentially saying one user found it unclear and closed it unilaterally.

• Aging away the duplicate votes allows the users to eventually go back and re-cast close votes for other reasons if the question does need to be closed for some other reason other than being duplicated, in accordance with recent changes.

This has now been implemented. It won't affect past circular closures, but will prevent new ones from appearing.