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I am aware in Stack exchange Opinion based questions and answers are not allowed as per SE guidelines.

Am I allowed to Close vote based on opinion rather than logical reasoning and judgement against SE rules.
For Example
- Since I don't understand the question. And I cannot explain why I don't understand
- Since I feel it is unclear. And I am unable to explain where clarity is missing and why it is unclear
- Since I don't know the answer. Hence I believe it is impossible to answer

Does SE allows to close vote based on the above reason which cannot explain.

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  • 6
    Is this going to end in a "Then why was my question closed?" .... This wouldn't have anything to do with this question, would it?
    – Bart
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:18
  • @Bart, No. I want to understand whether SE allows to close with those reasons or not
    – Babu
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:20
  • Users are free to vote how they see fit, if not fraudulent. And if they feel a question is unclear and not answerable, they are free to vote to close accordingly.
    – Bart
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:21
  • I'm guessing this is in regards to this question of yours: stackoverflow.com/questions/23116138/… . People don't vote to close because they can't answer the question, they vote because they perceive there to be problems with it. In this case, they couldn't quite understand what you were asking, and they wanted you to clarify your question.
    – Brad Larson Mod
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:21
  • @Bart, what do you mean fraudulent?
    – Babu
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:21
  • @BradLarson, If some other user feels in other do they free to reopen it?
    – Babu
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:22
  • Serial voting, sockpuppets, voting rings, stuff like that.
    – Bart
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:22
  • @Bart, What are voting rings?
    – Babu
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:23
  • meta.stackexchange.com/questions/137448/term-for-vote-cartels
    – Bart
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:23
  • @BVR It's certainly possible to reopen, yes. Most likely that will happen as a result of the author editing the question to address the close reason- in the linked question's case, making more clear what specific point was being asked about, for example. If you do edit it, it will automatically be nominated for reopening and some users will review it and consider whether it should be reopened or not.
    – Joe
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:33
  • +1, exactly this is what bad reviewers who are not familiar with advanced topics of the site do on physics all the time. And the same people prevent any wrongly closed question from getting reopend. They really should be offered a time out from reviewing ...
    – Dilaton
    Commented Apr 17, 2014 at 7:54

2 Answers 2

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Downvotes and close votes are very different, and you seem to be using the terms interchangeably.

You can downvote for absolutely any reason. You shouldn't, but you can. Similarly, you can upvote for any reason, and we can't stop that either. Voting is meant to be easy, and we have very little incentive to impose actual technical restrictions on how you can cast votes. Up and down votes are the primary way we sort content on the site, and we want lots of people casting lots of votes. That said, there are technical restrictions in place to detect and reverse abnormal voting patterns, such as systematic downvoting of a specific user's content.

Close votes are completely different. They require 3000 reputation and they are cast for specific reasons - you have to specify why you think a question should be closed. While you can vote to close a question and choose an arbitrary reason, you won't actually succeed in closing the question unless four other people happen to agree with you.

As for when it's OK to use your "opinion" to cast a close vote, it's always a matter of opinion. This is why we require 3000 reputation to cast them; ideally you'll have learned what kind of questions the site's users consider on- and off-topic by that point.

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  • You cannot downvote for absolutely any reason; downvoting (or upvoting) based on the user behind a post is very very bad, the system automatically reverses it, and people get bans for it.
    – Billy Mailman
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:42
  • As I said, you shouldn't, but we have no means of detecting the intent behind a single downvote. There is nothing technical stopping you from downvoting somebody because you don't like their name or avatar.
    – user229044
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:47
  • Except that there is something technical, if you keep at it; the votes will reverse themselves overnight. Doesn't catch single votes, but voting based on the person posting is rarely limited to single votes anyway.
    – Billy Mailman
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:49
  • I've addressed this with an edit, but again, I'm talking about voting on a random sampling of posts as a normal user might, not actual malicious abuse of the voting system. My answer doesn't make any attempt at addressing serial downvoting, voting rings, sock puppeting, etc. I'm talking about legitimate users of the site.
    – user229044
    Commented Apr 16, 2014 at 22:52
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I don't understand the question

Then it might be unclear. Vote to close (if you're sure about yourself), keeping in mind that there has to be 4 other people agreeing with you to close. You alone, might not be able to tell accurately if the question should be closed, but multiple people can.

Since I don't know the answer. Hence I believe it is impossible to answer

That is a sign that you (cough) shouldn't answer, and Stack Exchange (splutter) does not require you to answer every question that you see. If it's a hard question, it's a good question.

Does SE allows to down vote

You can downvote anything you want. If it's bad voting, the system will revese it. But it's a good idea to downvote questions that you think are "bad", as in no effort put in, horrible formatting (please edit), or otherwise. Because that's what a downvote is for.

Generally:

  • Upvote good stuff
  • Downvote, comment, or edit bad stuff
  • Close when a close reason is matched

The system handles everything else.

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