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From the faq I gather that a closed question can be reopened again after some (5?) reopen votes. My question though is; really, who is going to care to look at a closed question to see if it has become reopenable? I'm thinking that once a question has been closed it is sort of doomed, even if the asker improves the question, since it will get so few views being marked as closed, and thus slim chances of receiving reopen votes. Am I wrong? Could anything be done, site-functionality-wise or by the hands of the asker, to increase the chances of reopening of a reworked question?

(The example that got me wondering is this question where the asker did make an effort to clarify the intent of the question but I'm in doubt that it will ever receive enough reopen attention (unless this meta question changes it's chances, but that is not the point of this meta question):
Learning another instrument?
Will @EmmaHagreen ever have her question reopened? Or does it still not qualify by the rules of this site?)

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    In addition to the other suggestions you can also flag when you think it's clear one of us mods will reopen it.
    – user28
    Commented Nov 27, 2012 at 5:56
  • Don't closed questions that get edited automatically end up in the reopen queue?
    – user45266
    Commented Apr 17, 2019 at 19:08

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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Well, as you may know, there is a re-open review queue. All questions that have any re-open votes on them will be sent to the queue and those with enough rep can review whether or not they should be re-opened.

The second way is via the moderator tools (available to all 2K+users). In there is a list of the questions with the most recent reopen votes and the questions with the most reopen votes.

With these two tools, mods and high-rep users can see these questions and either vote to reopen or let it stay closed.

As to your specific example, I saw it in the re-open queue and have voted to re-open it. However, only two three of our 98 eligible users have ever used that queue, which is a dilemma. It is a known problem that it is hard to reopen a question, but that might be "status by design". My guess is that the mods have seen the question and think it is still to ambiguous.

Note, it is fine to request a question be reopened here on meta. That's what meta is for. If you wish to discuss this specific question further, rather than reopening in general, either make a new question or edit this one to clarify. There's nothing wrong with asking for a specific question to be reopened on meta (although the request may be declined).

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  • I hadn't realised I had visibility of that queue- gone through the queue now.
    – Doktor Mayhem Mod
    Commented Nov 26, 2012 at 23:06
  • I'll make that three. :P
    – Luke_0
    Commented Nov 27, 2012 at 0:28
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Most has already been said -- it takes 5 reopen votes or one mod to reopen a closed question.

I hadn't actually noticed that the question had been edited! It would have been appropriate to ping a moderator with an @mention in a comment or a flag. In this case, this meta post sufficed to ping me. :)

I've reopened -- the edit that was made certainly fulfills the requirement that I had stipulated.

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I've asked bad questions that I couldn't save and at least one that was reopened.

To get a question reopened, you need to edit the question to fix whatever problem has been sighted (cited), AND add a comment directed at the commenter who provides the most detailed criticism, ask them if the edit works and if it needs anything else.

DON'T GET EMOTIONAL! I'm really bad at this. But remember, they clicked on it. They want the question to be good. Something about the title made them look closer. THEN they saw a problem and took action. So the close-voters in a sense have the clearest idea of what the question lacks, what expectation was defeated. And they're here because they want it to be good. Casting a close vote doesn't mean they don't like you.

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