Vote to close or reopen your proposals

What is closing?

Closing is a democratic voting process where the community defines which proposals are poorly defined, violoations of the Stack Exchange Content Policy, or duplicates of existing sites or proposals.

When should I close my own proposal?

Proposals that are poorly defined or violations of the content policy, as outlined in the FAQ, should be closed by casting close votes. Proposals that are sufficiently similar to existing sites or proposals should be closed by casting close votes.

How do I cast a close vote on my proposal?

The current number of close votes will be shown under the proposal, in parentheses like so:

close (3)

If there are no close votes, it will simply say:

close

To cast a close vote — or just to view the current count of close votes and reasons — click the 'close' link under the proposal description. A list of close reasons, with descriptions and current counts, will appear.

If you wish to cast a vote at this point, use the radio buttons to specify a reason for closing the proposal, then click the [vote to close] button.

• It takes 5 close votes to reach the closing threshold
• You may cast up to 12 close votes per day.
• Close votes age away harmlessly after 4 days if the threshold is not reached.

What happens when my proposal is closed?

Once a proposal has been closed, it will no longer accept new example questions, and the words [closed] are appended to the title. However, closed proposals can be reopened through a similar voting process.

The current number of reopen votes will be shown under the proposal, in parentheses like so:

reopen (3)

If there are no reopen votes, it will simply say:

reopen

Proposals can go through multiple close and reopen cycles, but each individual user may only vote once in the cycle.

Alternatives to closing

If you don't have enough reputation to cast close votes, or have used up your close votes for the day, there are alternatives:

• If the proposal is a duplicate, post a comment with a link to the original.
• If the proposal has serious problems (e.g. it is spam or offensive), flag it instead.