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I started this topic:

https://superuser.com/questions/477470/which-personal-finance-manager-has-network-based-multiuser-support

The question was closed, because the first version was a bit unspecific. I updated it and waited for being reopened. Nothing happened. The FAQ doesn't give any hint how to handle this.

So I just posted a similar question, because the FAQ doesn't offer a real solution for getting an edited question reopened again:

https://superuser.com/questions/479341/which-personal-finance-managing-tool-offer-network-based-multi-user-support

I know, that wasn't the best solution, but there was no real alternative proposed and the topic seems being to special to gather a high interest.

So I'm being downvoted and closed again. I think, this is a rude an unfair style, as I've been trying to be as specific as possible. And it's a clearly formulated question now, which can be answered in the way "XYZ provides a way to work with multiple-users on the same cashbook from different machines".

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    If you want a question to be reopened, flag it for moderator attention or bring the topic up on meta (as you just did). You're right, the process should be explained in the FAQ.
    – Oliver Salzburg Mod
    Commented Sep 25, 2012 at 14:48
  • Ok, I suppose, the duplicated question can't being removed, or can it be ? It was cleary meant as workaraound, so I would merge the two questions. But this doesn't helps, if the question isn't reopened again...
    – Florian Storck
    Commented Sep 25, 2012 at 14:56
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    By the way: You were downvoted by the system, not by any user. When a question is closed as off topic or not a real question, it gets an automatic downvote from the Community user.
    – slhck Mod
    Commented Sep 25, 2012 at 16:42
  • Ok, interesting, I thought only user can downvote. Thanks for clarification.
    – Florian Storck
    Commented Sep 26, 2012 at 7:22

1 Answer 1

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Without wanting to repeat myself too much – I brought up this issue on MSO a while ago: Extending the “Why are some questions closed?” section in the FAQ

One of the points I wanted to include was:

Once you edited the question accordingly, you may use the "flag" link to inform a moderator about your changes.

And:

Do not post the question again. Chances are it will be closed too, and also possibly deleted. You always need to fix your closed question first.

However, the team – Jeff Atwood – disagreed with these suggestions because they would enable "whining" and give users a reason to pester moderators into reopening their questions.

I don't quite believe that, personally, since Super User has much less traffic than Stack Overflow. Here's the last comment I left:

I think there's a huge difference though in the way reopening "just works" on SO, due to the large traffic and the number of users with the necessary privilege. They will probably "just see" a fixed question without needing the OP to intervene. On SU, however, very few questions are reopened once they're closed – even if they're bumped to the front page –, and in many cases, a moderator has to step in to review. In these cases, they'll just stick around closed forever

So, I agree with you that the reopening process could be described in a much clearer way rather than just saying that "questions can be reopened when people vote to reopen" (…).

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  • Interesting post ! It's good to see, that I'm not the only one , and as you correctly state, the SU traffic is rather low so it needs a better reopening process, as long as the traffic stays that low.
    – Florian Storck
    Commented Sep 26, 2012 at 7:23
  • well, one reason this wouldn't be reopened is that it's not really an appropriate question for the site, even after editing.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 20:42
  • 1
    @Jeff I believe this Meta question wasn't about that single question rather than the fact that (new) users don't know how a question can be reopened. It simply never happens without moderator intervention or for questions that aren't "hot" or trending where it goes back and forth between closing and reopening (which also doesn't happen too often)
    – slhck Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 22:00
  • it is about that, since a question that is still not appropriate even after editing is not going to be reopened by the community -- because it shouldn't be! It's just the wrong type of question to work here.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Sep 29, 2012 at 6:49
  • If we leave this one question itself aside for a moment… you'll never find more than a handful of questions being reopened by the community. I don't have the stats, but you could surely get them. When a question is closed it will stay like that unless the OP somehow manages to figure out that it needs to be flagged, or a moderator sees it. @jef
    – slhck Mod
    Commented Sep 29, 2012 at 7:23

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