March 2015 Newsletter

Close Vote Aging Process Now Fixed Length, regardless of Views

Close votes, reopen votes, and close flags now begin aging away a maximum of 14 days after the last vote cast, regardless of the view count on the post in question. Previously, posts with a lack of views would not trigger close votes aging away until at least some minimum number of views. In practice, this only partially addressed the problems it was meant to. Stuff that really needed review would sit stagnant, and the longevity it offered to an individual’s vote did not make much of an impact when the post remained unseen by the right folks. On the flip side, things that probably didn’t need to get closed would simply slowly but steadily gain unnecessary close votes.

To help accommodate the situations where a post doesn’t get enough attention during the first round of closing, users who vote to close or reopen will be able to recast their votes if their vote merely ages away. This way, rather than a post simply sitting in the respective queue forever, voters can essentially “re-queue” the post for a fresher look. Note that voters must wait 14 days after the vote ages away before re-raising it, and each time revoting will still consume one of a normal user’s votes per day.

  Read more → Age close votes after 14 days, regardless of views, allowing recasting

  Related FAQ → When are moderator flags automatically dismissed as “aged away” by the system?