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It appears that casperOne has closed my question as a duplicate. Firstly, I would like to know if there is a way to contact / message a user directly. I would prefer to do that, rather than just re-open it.

Secondly, I would like to know why it was closed in light of my comment. "Max" had mentioned in a comment that my question may be a duplicate and pointed to the referred to question. I responded specifically to his question saying that I had reviewed that post and the proposed answer did not work. I took all the time to create an SSCCE so this can be verified very easily. "Max" did not create an SSCCE, it was only a snippet.

So again, I had already looked at the previous post. I tried that solution which did NOT work. So even though someone marked that post answered, it does not solve my problem.

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3 Answers 3

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To avoid this kind of situation, it is usually a good idea to include a link to the original question with an explanation of why the answers there don't work for you, for example:

This is similar to How do I foo a bar in quux?, but the solutions posted there won't work in my case because it conflicts with baz and I'm using version xyzzy of qwerty [...]

This way, you're making the differences between the questions explicit, and people are less likely to mistake it for a duplicate.

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People who edit a post can be messaged in comments, and closing a post counts as an edit, so comment replys will work in this case. Add a comment @CasperOne ... and it will show up in their stack overflow inbox.

You can also:

  • Flag it for another moderator's attention
  • Bring it up on meta here and ask for the community to weigh in on what you feel is incorrect action
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    To be more specific, as CasperOne did not edit: @mentions specifically also work for "– if this is the case – to the ♦ moderator who closed the question".
    – Arjan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:12
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    Aaaand the community re-opens it. Teh System Workz!
    – Shog9
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:13
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    +1 for "flag it for moderator attention." All you have to do in a case like this is flag with a message "Can you reconsider closing this as a duplicate? My question differs from the other like this and like that." That's usually all it takes.
    – user1228
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:26
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No, there is no way to message a specific user. What you're doing now (asking a question on meta) is the appropriate way to resolve something like this.

As for why it was closed, we can only assume that it is because the moderator didn't have enough information when closing it; although it appeared to be a dupe, it was not.

The question can always be reopened.

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  • Asking a question on meta does not automatically contact the user who closed the question, as far as I am aware. A means to automatically contact the closer seems sensible, it would help avoid "close wars"
    – MarkJ
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:07
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    @MarkJ No, it doesn't inform the closer, but it informs others who may be able to do something about it. Contacting the closer? Not sure I'd want to see an "email" (or whatever) every time I closed something and the OP didn't like it.
    – Michael Todd
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:10
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    Adam is right, one can in fact @comment the moderator who closed a question.
    – Arjan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:10
  • @Arjan Of course, but that's not a direct message to the closer, that's a comment that everyone can see. It seemed like the OP here wanted to PM with the person who closed the question. If not, the commenting mechanism is certainly appropriate.
    – Michael Todd
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:14
  • (Ah, I guess you're right about asking for a private comment. My bad!)
    – Arjan
    Jan 19, 2012 at 17:54

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