Is there any actual harm in voting to close spam, as long as you flag?

Question

There's no question that spam should be flagged as spam. That's what the flag is for. But sometimes people also vote to close with various custom close reasons. Is there any harm in that provided they also flag as spam? (I don't see any point to the close vote, seems like a waste of time, but that's not the question.)

I'm speaking technically in the SE system, not in terms of social engineering. I could see the argument that voting to close "because this is spam" teaches others to vote to close rather than flagging (because the close vote is highly-visible and the spam flag isn't), but it's not what I'm asking.

I could swear I saw something somewhere on meta saying that if a question is closed before enough spam flags are accumulated, that has some kind of negative effect on the spam flags, but I can't remember the details or find anything. (Maybe I'm misremembering; is it editing that can impact spam flags?)

The question Vote to close or flag as spam (or both?) is closely related but doesn't seem to answer the question about harm (although the accepted answer says "All other actions are optional").

Answer 1

Technically, it does not cause any harm. It does not make spam more difficult to flag or to handle, and it has no consequence for the post's eligibility for review audits either.

I can think of one very marginal advantage of voting to close: spam gets downvoted quickly (and spam flags come with an implicit downvote), so they disappear from the home page quickly (once they're below -3), so fewer people will see it. A close vote puts it in the review queue after 15 minutes, so users who miss the question on the homepage but do visit the review queue could notice it there. However, flagging as spam from the review queue is not an option, not even when you go back after submitting the review. You have to open the question in another tab/window, so I am rather annoyed every time I see a spam question there.

Maybe I'm misremembering; is it editing that can impact spam flags?

Yes. The edit itself doesn't do anything with the pending flags, but other users are less likely to cast more flags, and ♦ moderators might not understand the flags and decline them. Also, subsequent rollbacks invalidate the flags altogether.

Answer 2

Well, the answer you linked does say, my emphasis:

For example, voting to close a spam question (assuming you've already flagged it!) isn't going to do any harm, but probably won't achieve much either (unless the question ultimately isn't spam, but just off-topic, in which case you might still help close it).

And that's still very correct. You're not causing any harm (to the site) by voting to close, but you are using up one of your close votes for the day. On most sites that's not really a problem, but on Stack Overflow, where there are a lot of questions that could use a close vote, you're expending one in a situation where it's not necessary. It could be construed that you are harming your own ability to help moderate the site for the day in that case.

I could swear I saw something somewhere on meta saying that if a question is closed before enough spam flags are accumulated, that has some kind of negative affect on the spam flags, but I can't remember the details or find anything.

Not to my knowledge. The FAQ on Spam and Rude flags says nothing about closure impacting spam flag deletion.

(Maybe I'm misremembering; is it editing that can impact spam flags?)

Rollbacks can invalidate rude flags cast on revisions that are later than the revision that a post is rolled back to. Well, at least, it's supposed to work that way...

You might have been remembering that we don't edit spam for many good reasons. If you edit the spam link out of a post you're making any currently pending spam flags on that post seem less valid. It doesn't perform any system-level action on them (like clearing them, disputing them, declining them, or marking them helpful) - it just makes them seem less valid.

Overall, there's not really any harm you're doing by voting to close. Just remember that a spam/rude flag is a vote to delete that doesn't require closure, and if the post qualifies for such a flag, use it!