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There are for example quite a few "zombie questions" that probably never will get 5 close votes (read somewhere that they disappear after some time so it's even less likely), or some questions are just in general horrible but do not get enough attention.

Should those questions be flagged?

e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1851347/when-i-put-textbox-to-edititemtemplate-column-in-gridview-it-wont-show

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2 Answers 2

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Should those questions be flagged?

Yes. If it is apparent that the question will not achieve close-velocity, flag it for moderator attention and a moderator will close it.

I closed the question you linked.

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    What are your thoughts on the tradeoff between "wasting" the moderator's time and having these questions around? (Since i think there are quite a lot of those questions)
    – H.B.
    May 4, 2011 at 15:50
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    You should flag them, rather than leaving them as broken windows on the website. The moderators rely on the eyes of the community to find these things, and they welcome the legitimate flags, no matter how many there are.
    – user102937
    May 4, 2011 at 15:53
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    If there aren't enough moderators to clean up the trash, then we need more moderators!
    – user27414
    May 4, 2011 at 15:57
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Kind of an amendment to Robert's answer, which I agree with: if it's something that's not going to get closed outside of intervention, and it needs to be closed, please flag it.

However, if you have a good reason to flag something instead of voting yourself, do not flag as doesn't belong here → <close reason>. Use a general moderator flag and explain the situation. This is for two reasons. First, because it's a better way to explain why you're bothering to flag rather than just vote. Second, when you hit 3000 reputation, flagging something as doesn't belong here will convert your flag into a close vote, thus not alerting the moderators as you intend to.

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    I think i've never used anything else than the generic flag, but that might be a useful note to others.
    – H.B.
    May 4, 2011 at 15:59
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    +1 i did not know flags can automatically get converted to close votes ... Bummer to those who would rather see the flag weight go up.
    – Aditya P
    May 4, 2011 at 18:28

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