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Why is it possible for a question to be closed in two different ways?

This one was closed by a single vote (a diamond user):

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This one took 5 votes but one of them is a diamond user:

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Would the second question be closed as soon as Marc Gravell clicked on close?
Maybe duplicates are different but I'm pretty sure I remember voting for a question to be put on hold as a duplicate. So:

  • Is a diamond user's vote always the final vote to a closing process?
  • What makes that a question need to be marked as a duplicate by a moderator instead of being on hold as duplicate as for user vote.
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    Diamond moderators votes are binding; if Tim Stone had not voted yet, Marc's vote would still have put the question on hold. In effect, they close directly, everyone else closes indirectly through voting.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 14:47
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    Marking a question as a duplicate doesn't ever put it on hold. That's indeed different about duplicates.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 14:47
  • So if a diamond mod judge that you are posting a dupe, it will only take his vote. Good to know
    – ʞunɥdɐpɐɥd
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 14:48
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    Diamond mods don't have close votes... they have close powers.
    – Hugo Dozois
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 14:49
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    From the closing FAQ: Moderators may close any question (regardless of their reputation); other users vote to close instead.
    – Martijn Pieters
    Commented Dec 11, 2013 at 14:49

2 Answers 2

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Diamond mods can't vote to close a question (per se), their vote directly closes it. Unless it's perfectly clear that the question should be closed, it is usually closed by 5 normal users with the privilege.

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You have two questions here:

  1. Questions are always put on hold first, but instead of 'closed' or 'put on hold', duplicate questions use the wording 'marked as duplicate'. See Closing changes: on hold, unclear, too broad, opinion-based, off-topic reasons, bye-bye to Too Localized:

    Questions closed as dupe show as [duplicate], not [closed]

    Note that the 'on hold' state is just a temporary label; for the first 5 days, the label 'on hold' is used instead of 'closed', except of course for duplicates, which don't use 'closed' at all.

  2. Diamond moderators don't vote. They close directly. It doesn't matter if there are 0 or 4 or any other number of votes already on the question. From What is a "closed" or “on hold” question?:

    • Users with at least 250 rep may vote to close their own questions
    • Users with at least 3,000 (500 on Beta sites) may vote to close any questions (see limits below)
    • Moderators may close any question (regardless of their reputation)

    emphasis mine.

The fact that Oded closed that first question as a dupe directly, is just a coincidence (and Oded is fast). No ordinary users had a chance to vote on that post just yet.

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