Pending close votes are not visible to users on their own questions when they do not have the VtC privilege*
I believe it's quite common for us (VtC privileged users) to come into a question, see it is close worthy and:
- Cast the necessary VtC
- Possibly downvote the question
- Leave
Note the lack of feedback to the post-owner; no comments, no information. They see their post attract downvotes (usually) and they don't receive the answers they sought.
And whilst it can only be 5-10 minutes until the question is closed, I've also seen cases where questions go hours (days) in this dormant state before getting the 5 close votes needed.
And this is potentially/ probably/ possibly the user's first 5-10 minutes on the website, it is a horrible new-user experience, and we should do everything we can to fix that.
I propose some form of UI which lets the user know in advance of their question being closed, such as re-using the existing close messages (alternatives very welcome!):
this question may not be constructive and is likely to be closed
This question may not be a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. You may wish to reformat your question to make it suitable for our site, and you can see the FAQ for guidance.
Potential benefits I see:
Users can see what they've done wrong ahead of time and can possibly fix their mistakes before the question gets closed (less "please re-open this post" on meta/ flags)
Users aren't kept left-in-the-dark about why their post is attracting downvotes (less "why am I being downvoted").
A better new-user-experience.
* excluding duplicate votes, but correct me if I'm wrong...
At least one user has indicated this question should be closed for not meeting our quality standards
(Or even show the count).