How should unnecessary questions be closed, if at all?

Question

A question was asked about a problem that was later discovered to be nonexistent. The problem was due to a typo and the poster only realized this after asking the question.

Should I vote to close a question like this? If so, which reason should I use? The choices are:

• exact duplicate
  This question covers exactly the same ground as earlier questions on this topic; its answers may be merged with another identical question.
• off topic
  Questions on Ubuntu are expected to generally relate to ubuntu and developers for ubuntu, within the scope defined in the faq.
• subjective and argumentative
  It's impossible to objectively answer this question; questions of this type are too open ended and usually lead to confrontation and argument.
• not a real question
  It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form.
• too localized
  This question would only be relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet.
• belongs on meta
  This question is a discussion of this web site or community itself, and is a better fit for Meta.

Answer 1

In the eyes of the site, he had a question - and provided an answer! The course of action for this question is to have the author submit his answer, and accept it. This does happen (and it's usually happens to me nearly moments after I ask a question!) from time to time.

However - in regards to the idea of your question. If a question does appear that you think should be closed, and fits under any of those 6 bullets. It's not only your right - but as a community member it's practically a duty - to submit your vote. Questions will not be closed right away - it typically takes 5 votes to actually have a question closed - this is what helps keep the community clean.

As Moderators the four of us are merely here for guidance and do as little as possible in regards to interference. It's the members of this community who are really the ones that should "police" and maintain it's integrity. That's why (depending on your reputation level) more an more abilities are awarded (things like editing other posts, etc - which are all outlined on the FAQ)

My last bit - and you've taken the right action. If a question seems inappropriate, weird, or odd - and the 6 outlined "closed" functions don't seem to fit it - this (meta.ubuntu) is the best place to discuss it's course of action.

Answer 2

We used to have a close reason of "no longer relevant" which was useful when either the problem no longer existed (bug report) or the very premise of the question was wrong (your case).

The closest equivalent we have is [close - too localized]. It sounds a bit odd but it is commonly used in these situations under the clause "This question was only be relevant to ... a specific moment in time ..."

That is your best option.