Procedure or guidelines for closing a complete duplicate (double-post)?

Question

Recently, two copies of the exact same question were posted due to a client bug. On the second question, the OP posted an answer apologizing for the duplicate.

I voted to close the first question, thinking that it would be easier to close and delete for not having an answer. The question was closed, but then Dr. Mayhem deleted the second question (+ its "answer"). Clearly this was the simplest fix for the whole problem.

But this left the first question closed, and the second one deleted. We got the first reopened fairly quickly. But, did I do wrong in voting to close the first (clean) question? It seems like I just made the whole process more difficult.

Answer 1

I don't think it's a fatal mistake. I, personally, would have voted to close the second question, since there already was another 'original' one.

I think the simplest and fastest thing to do, would be to flag one of the questions for moderation attention and mention there that there are two questions and one should be closed/deleted, so as a mod can take care of both of them at once.

If the second question remained open, the answer would have been deleted anyways, since it was not an acceptable answer, but an apologizing comment.