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Should a user have to add a comment when they vote to close
Require a comment regarding the close reason

While the FAQ is helpful for basic rules like "ask questions; don't start discussions" and "be polite", it can only cover so much. It can't tell you why a question was off-topic (some things that seem programming-related end up being closed), why a question is a bad fit for Q&A (sometimes it's hard to figure out what type of response the asker wants), etc.

I realize that it's usually possible to figure out why a question was closed, often by searching for related questions, (1) that's not always a guarantee, (2) it takes more time, and (3) it's not as accurate as hearing something in the closure-voter's own words. (In fact, I asked a question about those very problems: How to benefit from unexplained question closures)

I would find it helpful if everyone who voted to close a question, or even just the first person to make that vote, included a short comment on how the question relates to the respective rule. When reading questions that others have asked, I can then get a better picture of what kind of question would be closed in the future. The people who vote to close a question are probably better-equipped to explain the closure than someone on meta who reads the question months or years later.

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When someone with enough rep votes to close a question they must select one of the predefined reasons, or they can flag it for mod attention with a custom reason.

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To require a manually entered reason for each close vote would be really annoying - it's usually obvious why a question has been closed (not to mention the reason that is displayed at the bottom).

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If you are not sure why one of your own questions got closed, then by all means post a specific question here on meta, it will usually get answered pretty promptly.

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  • I think he knows that you have the notice when it is closed. He wants comments when you vote to close. Regardless of whether it gets closed or not.
    – user184498
    Aug 7, 2012 at 0:45
  • Yes, the closure notice is unhelpful in that regard because it results in the question being closed before the asker has a chance to intervene and improve the question. A comment would save the asker the trouble of starting a new question on meta and save the people on meta the trouble of dealing with a question they didn't vote to close. And how bad is "really annoying?"
    – Jordan
    Aug 7, 2012 at 0:54
  • @Jordan - then your question needs to change to something like "can we notify the OP when their are pending close votes on their question?".
    – slugster
    Aug 7, 2012 at 1:00
  • When a question is downvoted, is the voter notified of new comments on the question?
    – Jordan
    Aug 7, 2012 at 2:29

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