Should I flag a vague question, or ask the member to add more detail if I can't?

If I should flag it, what should I flag it as?


If you have the reputation to, vote to close as "unclear what you're asking." If you don't have the reputation to VTC, then you should flag (assuming you have requisite rep) as "this question should be closed," and pick the "unclear what you're asking" close reason.

This will put the question in a review queue, for high-rep users and moderators to consider whether it should be closed. If the question is closed, it will show up in your flagging history as a helpful flag.

You can, at the same time, leave a comment asking the OP to add detail to the question, but I think the main thing should be to flag and close as soon as possible, so that the question doesn't get incorrect answers before the OP (original poster) is able to fix up the question.

  • I do not have the option to select that when I report. – captaindogfish Nov 16 '14 at 23:55
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    @captaindogfish you need 15 reputation to flag a post. – Braiam Nov 17 '14 at 2:10
  • @captaindogfish Try flagging this question -- you should be able to because it's yours. Click the "flag" link under the question, then click "it should be closed for another reason" (second option), then click "unclear what you're asking" (third option). The flag will not be submitted until you click the blue "Flag Question" button, so don't worry about flagging your own question :) – MTL Nov 17 '14 at 2:58
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    You get different choices for flagging an answer, so that might be why you saw something different. – MTL Nov 17 '14 at 2:59

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