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I noticed now that on closed questions, a new button called "Edit question" shows up:

"Edit question" button shows on close notice

The button also shows for logged-out users, except it's titled "Improve this question":

"Improve this question" shows on close notice for logged-out users

No announcement was made about this new button, as of the time this question was posted.

When exactly is this button supposed to show up? Specifically, on which close reasons as well as what times closed will it show up, and to what users? (As an example, it doesn't show on this question, which was closed with the old "too localized" close reason.)

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  • I just noticed this too and came here to see if there was any description of the change. I thought it didn't appear on questions closed on the past, or that as moderator I would see it on every closed question, but it's not so. I can see it on questions I closed, but on questions closed by other moderators, I see it only in some cases. – kiamlaluno Jun 16 at 23:01
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Generally speaking, the logic is as follows.

  • If the post is not locked for editing for the current user:

    • They will see "Edit question" if they have the post editing privilege or are the post owner.
    • Otherwise they will see "Improve this question".

  • If the current user is the post owner, they will also see "Delete question" beside "Edit question" if the question isn't already deleted or locked for deletion.

  • On duplicate questions, moderators and gold tag badge users will see a button for editing duplicates as they had before.

But there are some closures that don't follow this general rule and don't show either the edit or the delete button. This is an oversight on my part due to the nuanced way post notices are constructed. Namely, the buttons aren't rendered if the post notice has a top but no bottom, i.e., no <hr> or content below that.

This includes:

  • Any of the obsolete close reasons (e.g. "not constructive", "too localized", etc.) except "off topic".
  • Duplicate questions closed prior to 2013-02-06, the date when we moved duplicate lists out of the question body and into the head.

These questions were closed a particularly long time ago, so they're probably past where a new CTA will get them edited to the point of reopening, so there's not a lot of benefit to showing them. Still, the unintentional inconsistency could be problematic. It's a real glass half bug, glass half feature situation.

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  • 8
    "Glass half bug, glass half feature situation." I'm stealing this terminology. – Spevacus Jun 17 at 0:10
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    I'm concerned that the Delete Question button will encourage OPs to delete and repost the question, rather than repair the question so that it becomes eligible for reopening. Also, many people, especially new members, believe that deleting poorly received questions is good for their reputation, and do not realise that such deleted questions can contribute to a question ban. – PM 2Ring Jun 17 at 9:13

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