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I asked a meta question a while back which was closed as a duplicate. I notice now that the original question is also closed.

Is it the case that once a question has been asked and a verdict reached that further discussion is no longer permitted? It strikes me a bit odd that because I missed out on the original question I now have no way of offering an opinion.

I can understand the reasons for closing exact duplicates (if it's a simple question/answer) but beyond that I can't understand why meta questions should ever be closed. My understanding is that the whole point of meta is for discussing ideas to improve how things work, and a good degree of that would be re-discussing old topics.

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3 Answers 3

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This is a people problem. The folks with the power should be leaving one instance (usually the earliest) open.

Your best recourse is to flag one or the other for moderator attention and explain.

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  • Thanks. I tried flagging the most recent question a few days ago, but not heard anything. @random has been involved in the comments against that question but seems stuborn to reverse his decision.
    – PaulG
    May 20, 2010 at 8:08
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The original shouldn't have been locked down, though maybe it was because of some comment war or something. If it had only been closed, then we could vote to reopen if we thought the conversation worthwhile.

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I disagree.

I try to select a "master" that best matches the newly posted question, to get the asker a quick link to the answers. See also the blog: Dr. Strangedupe: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love Duplication. And it's not a perfect world, and not all "super masters" (originals; first posts) give the best answers.

This implies that in general I support that a "master" could very well be closed as being a duplicate itself. Some of the closed "masters" might even refer to multiple more specific "masters": have the question asker pick the best if the newly posted question is a bit vague. So, I don't mind questions being closed as a duplicate of some other question, which itself is (or some day: might be) closed as a duplicate of yet another. In the end, if someone finds the closed question they will be able to follow the links to find a non-closed question to post at, or to find their answer.

(The closed duplicates might still be valuable for searching and SEO though. Its answers might be merged into a master though, rather than just being deleted at some point in time.)

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    I suspect you've not looked at the example. There is simply no open question that I can add an opinion to. Trying to open a new question to offer an opinion gets closed as 'duplicate'
    – PaulG
    May 20, 2010 at 11:02
  • Well, @Paul, you tagged [feature-request] rather than [support] with [specific-question]. And I guess your feature request is not about a specific question, right? Also the title "Dont close questions as duplicate if the original is closed" suggests you're talking about something generic. So, I stand by my statement: in general I don't mind questions being closed as a duplicate of yet another duplicate.
    – Arjan
    May 20, 2010 at 12:24
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    When I turn up a duplicate that is itself a duplicate, I generally follow the chain and close as a duplicate of the original instance. Why, because we want people to easily access the canonical version both to find the maximum number of good answers, and to find the right place to add new answers. Thus I don't like to close as a duplicate of a closed question.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    May 20, 2010 at 14:46
  • @dmckee, a late reply. I agree, but I also try to select the "master" that best matches the newly posted question. It's not a perfect world, and not all "super masters" give the best answers. True, that means that new answers cannot be posted to that question.
    – Arjan
    Apr 13, 2011 at 9:25

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