What's the preferred way to initiate removal of an off-topic question?
In the past I've flagged those, and a moderator will follow up and take an off-topic question down.
I used the Close option today. Does that pop up on anyone's radar? Or is it just hanging out waiting for 4 other people to close it?
(The question referred to is purely a jQuery question. The presence of EE is incidental.)
Flagging should be reserved for egregious problems (blatant spam, illegal posts, profanity, etc). If you feel a questions should be close as off topic, that's what voting is for.
I don't agree that flagging is at all appropriate for routine closures. Flagging is not supposed to be a way for users to cast a supervote-by-proxy through a moderator.
The Moderators would be the first to say that they are perfectly happy take a look at questions that need attention; that is admirable. But if Moderators have to act on these I-think-the-community-should-close-this flags, then the community is not doing their job. Don't let the flagging system become a way for users to say "Please close this; my one vote should be enough."
Flag for moderator attention if it needs an urgent look.
Voting to close does show up to us and everyone else with enough reputation to close questions, so that is fine for the majority of questions (moderators are here to guide the community, so it's expected that some questions will be closed completely by community members).
To see the review tools I'm talking about, click "Review" on the top right of the main site: https://expressionengine.stackexchange.com/review
You can see any posts which already have some close votes, and decide whether or not you agree to close them.
Best to flag the question if you want immediate moderator review.
