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I got this question in the re-open vote queue.

I noticed it is marked as a duplicate of a question titled Complete and utter nonsense, which was a bit suspicious. So I looked at the bottom of that question and found out it was closed as duplicate by a single user with the new close-vote superpowers.

When going to the duplicate question (the one titled Complete and utter nonsense), I noticed that the same user with the superpowers changed the title of that question and edited the only answer to say If you're reading this, you've posted a question that makes no sense what so ever !.

While this is quite funny, and perhaps both of the questions are low quality and don't make sense (I don't have a gold badge on the relevant tag, so who am I to say), this behavior seems to abuse both the new superpower (since if the new question makes no sense, it shouldn't be closed as a duplicate of a non related question, it should be closed as off topic or unclear) and the edit privileges (what was done to the older question looks like vandalism to me).

This is definitely not a behavior I expect from a 100k+ rep user.

What do you think should be done in this case?

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  • 13
    Flag flag flaggity flag flag
    – Doorknob
    May 15, 2014 at 18:46
  • 7
    Flag the other post. Leave it to the moderators to deal with that one, that's not appropriate behaviour.
    – Martijn Pieters
    May 15, 2014 at 18:47
  • 20
    See... This is why we can't have nice things... :(
    – Mysticial
    May 15, 2014 at 18:48
  • @MartijnPieters Which one to flag? The closed as duplicate question or the vandalized question and answer?
    – Eran
    May 15, 2014 at 18:49
  • @Eran flag as "Other" for a moderator explaining the issue.
    – Taryn
    May 15, 2014 at 18:49
  • 3
    Not necessary at this point. Anna Lear is clearly aware of the issue.
    – Mysticial
    May 15, 2014 at 18:50
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    In any case, I really hope this doesn't put the nail in the coffin for the gold badge dupe-votes. It's a really nice feature for everyone else who do not abuse it.
    – Mysticial
    May 15, 2014 at 18:54
  • 12
    In this specific case, I've left a comment for Adeneo and the question was reopened, so I'm not sure anything else is necessary just yet. We'll be keeping an eye on how this feature is used and adjust as needed.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    May 15, 2014 at 18:56
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    @Eran: either one, include a link to the other.
    – Martijn Pieters
    May 15, 2014 at 18:57
  • @AnnaLear Thanks for the quick response.
    – Eran
    May 15, 2014 at 19:43
  • When I first started reading this question, I was worried it was about me and this question: stackoverflow.com/questions/23796322/…. But in that case, it was the OP who edited the original question into nonsense, and I reverted it when I marked the new question as a duplicate. Note that both questions are now deleted, so you may not be able to see them.
    – Barmar
    May 22, 2014 at 19:18

2 Answers 2

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+50

Flag for moderator attention, misusing this powerful ability is rather damaging and the moderators will put a stop to it.

I'll add that the moderators have no way to only remove this specific ability, a user that continues to misuse this privilege after being warned is likely to get their account suspended.

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  • 5
    Here's hoping! Let the hammer strike both ways, or something...
    – Nick Stauner
    May 15, 2014 at 18:55
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This is an extreme abuse of two different systems: closing and editing. Folks who engage in such behavior risk having their accounts suspended or worse.

Thank you for reporting this; the user involved has been warned.

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