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On a specific question on IPS.SE the question was closed, edited and then received some reopen votes. The OP then rolled back the question to an edit before it was closed, but the reopen votes stuck around.

Is there a specific reason for this? The reopen votes would have as reason that the question was edited, implying improvement. Rolling back then nullifies that improvement, so why do the reopen votes stick around?

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2 Answers 2

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I think part of the confusion here is that edits move on hold questions into the reopen queue (with limitations). One thing to remember, though, is that there's no way for the system to correlate the reopen vote with the edit.

  • It's possible for someone with sufficient reputation to nominate the question for reopening without it ever being edited at all.
  • Bad or purely textual edits also move the question into the reopen queue where it may garner reopen votes despite those bad edits.
  • Someone may vote to reopen after an edit pushes the question into the reopen queue but still thinks the original question is fine.

The system can not (and likely should not) be making these determinations automatically.

Now, should an edit generally or a rollback specifically trigger a notification to the reopen voters to ask them to revisit their vote because the question was edited? Maybe. This could be a good feature on both sides of the close/reopen process and I'm pretty sure someone has requested it here. But the system shouldn't interpret the votes itself.

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  • I agree. I think the suggestion in the last paragraph was also suggested in the context of up/downvotes, but there has been a lot of silence on that topic.
    – JAD
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 15:10
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Rollback is just an edit, behind the scenes, and edits don't abort pending reopen votes.

However, as mentioned in this answer:

The review shows that the most recent edit was a rollback

So future reviewers will see the rollback and vote to leave the question closed.

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  • Hmm, and then I guess the remaining issue (if you call it an issue) is that edits don't invalidate any votes.
    – JAD
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 13:13
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    @Jarko not an issue. Edits unlock voting lock, i.e. if someone upvoted a post, they can't undo the upvote or downvote after 5 minutes. However, if the post is edited, even after a year, they can undo the vote and cast the opposite vote. As for close/reopen, well, question can always be closed again, and in extreme cases custom flag can be raised and moderator can lock the question to prevent OP from further rolling back edits.
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 13:16
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    If editing invalidated reopen votes, it would only be fair for it to invalidate close votes, and that's a terrible idea. Lots of edits do nothing to address the fundamental problems with a question.
    – jscs
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 13:35

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