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I don't know what to do with this closing reason.

A lot of times, when a question is unclear, folks will post comments and try to get the @OP to improve the question. On the other hand, we have the option of casting a close vote, effectively saying "You're question is unclear, but I'm not going to give you any clue as to why I think it's unclear".

Finally, as a moderator, what is the proper thing to do in cases where people have cast "unclear" votes, but the @OP might have edited his/her question?

Just trying to figure out if there are any standards on SO on this.

marked as duplicate by gnat, Code Lღver, Martijn Pieters discussion Apr 7 '15 at 13:28


  • AFAIK, if a closed question is edited, it is always pushed in the reopen queue. – Sourav Ghosh Apr 7 '15 at 12:02
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    I don't see voting to close without commenting as "Your question is unclear but I'm not telling you why", I see it as "Your question is so unclear I can't even begin to tell you what I don't understand about it". – BoltClock Apr 7 '15 at 12:04
  • What do you mean by "standards?" – Robert Harvey Apr 7 '15 at 12:05
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    Well, it's OPs responsibility to write a clear question. It's good to post a comment to tell OP what info is missing or what is unclear, but this should only be a supplement to the close vote. Commenting is for giving OP a hint on how to improve, closing is to say "in its current form, this question is not up to SO standards". They have a different purpose. Furthermore, closing a question quickly is more important - the close reason already gives OP a starting point to improve, and it's not guaranteed that a question will ever be improved, so not closing is a bad idea. – l4mpi Apr 7 '15 at 12:08
  • by "standards", I mean when should one downvote and/or comment on a question, and when should it be closed. And standards on how to review these questions in close votes review, if these standards are different – ControlAltDel Apr 7 '15 at 12:09
  • Vote to reopen in such cases? – Spikatrix Apr 7 '15 at 12:15
  • If it was clear what was unclear, then it wouldn't be voted as unclear what you're asking, I guess? – Masked Man Aug 8 '15 at 14:15

Posting clarifying comments and casting a close vote are not mutually exclusive. You can do both.

The close reason isn't completely bereft of clues: "Please add additional details to highlight exactly what you need." Further, it takes 5 votes to close a question anyway, and closed questions can be reopened. Cast your close vote early; don't wait for the OP to clarify.

If a question cannot be reasonably answered in its present form, vote to close it. If it can be clarified with a comment, do so, but you can still vote to close. Some questions can't be clarified with a comment; they simply need to be made better questions.

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