up vote 28 down vote favorite
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My rep is going to reach 3,000 soon (2,987 at the time of this post), so I should be able to vote to close soon. How should my flagging habits change when I gain this ability? What should I do when I encounter a post that:

  1. is off topic and should be migrated to a site for which there is a migration path?
  2. is off topic and should be migrated to a site not listed in the vote-to-close dialog?
  3. is off topic and should not be migrated?
  4. should be closed for some other reason?
  5. requires a moderator action other than closing, such as deletion?
  6. is spam or offensive?

When should I use a flag, vote to close, or do both?

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Congratulations by the way; it's always useful to the site to have more closers around, particularly those with strong flagging records. :) – DMA57361♦ Aug 16 '11 at 15:22
Yay! :D Go you! And good thing to ask! – BloodPhilia Aug 16 '11 at 15:38
Congrats on 3k, your high flag weight, and thanks for helping out! – slhck Aug 16 '11 at 15:41
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Thank you very much. I hope this question will be useful to anyone else who has significant flagging experience and is about to reach 3k as well. – DragonLord Aug 16 '11 at 15:54
Side note: the flag dialog will automatically convert the "it doesn't belong here" flag dialog to the vote-to-close dialog once you reach 3k. That being said, it's fewer clicks just to choose close in the first place. – nhinkle♦ Aug 16 '11 at 16:05
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Good idea and thank you to whomever thought of including a link to this question for those who achieve "vote to close" status. I just got "vote to close" priveledges (although I can't spell privledges... priviledges... privilegdes) on Literature beta SE and that's how I got here. – Feral Oink Apr 21 at 7:53
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1 Answer

up vote 19 down vote accepted

1: … is off topic and should be migrated to a site for which there is a migration path?

Vote to close as off-topic as "belongs on another site".

2: … is off topic and should be migrated to a site not listed in the vote-to-close dialog?

Vote to close as off-topic and flag for ♦ moderator attention using the free-text box.
This ensures that even if we don't believe the migration is warranted that you will at least still be helping to close an off-topic question.

Make sure the question is off-topic here, on-topic there and good quality before taking action – if it's not all three of these things we won't even consider migration.

3: … is off topic and should not be migrated?

Vote to close as off-topic as "off-topic".

4: … should be closed for some other reason?

Vote to close using the relevant close reason.

If none of the reasons fit then consider if it really does need closing, and maybe flag for a ♦ using the free-text flag if you believe there is a case for doing so.

5: … requires a moderator action other than closing, such as deletion?

If it's something the community can do first (edit to fix problems, flag spam, close, etc) then that route should be taken first.

If that fails, it's something the community cannot handle or the problem is urgent then please flag for ♦ moderator attention and use the free-text flag.

6: … is spam or offensive?

Flag as spam or offensive.

Note that when voting to close if the question is particularly old and unlikely to obtain enough community close votes then you can also consider

  • flagging for ♦ moderator attention using the free-text box (and indicate you're flagging because of this)
  • posting it in the Vote to Close chat room
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I added our chat room there as well. It doesn't really get as much attention as it deserves. – slhck Aug 16 '11 at 15:40
Good idea, and thanks for the boldness, it helps, I was just in a semi-rush to leave the office :) – DMA57361♦ Aug 16 '11 at 18:26
Does the last paragraph still apply with /review and its close tab? What are examples of urgent problems that warrant moderator flags? – Daniel Beck Jan 8 at 11:58
@DanielBeck I'd say it's probably less important, but still a little bit relevant (as we are likely to have more closers than reviewers, although I've no numbers to support this assumption). And as for "urgent", well, I'm not actually sure... it's been a while since I wrote this. – DMA57361♦ Jan 9 at 13:07
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