A flag to close a post is considered to be handled if it is marked helpful. This happens if the post receives at least one close vote, regardless of the outcome of the close review.

For example, you flagged https://askubuntu.com/questions/1382302/ubuntu-20-04-disappears-from-windows-10-wsl2-after-reboot for closure, and another user subsequently voted to close it (I can see this in the post timeline, but it is not visible to non-mods, frustratingly). The close vote aged away (incidentally, the close vote was not cast from the queue). One leave open vote was cast, but that would not remove the post from the queue, so a strict perspective would consider the close effort unhandled. However, the flag was marked helpful, and so it was "handled".

A flag to close is also considered handled if it is declined, which I think only happens if the outcome of the review is leave open. This is okay - we can consider the close effort handled there, I think.

Given that the post receiving only one close vote is sufficient to handle close flags, I am not surprised that most such flags do get "handled", although the post does not really get handled in many such cases.

Just a thought - I would be surprised if posts primarily came to the Close Votes queue from flags - I think they are at least as likely, if not more likely, to arrive there because they receive a close vote from a user with at least 3k reputation. When one reviews the CV queue, one can see the previous close votes the question received. If no votes are seen, the post only has a flag. I feel this is rare - the case for less than 1 in 20 posts, while having only 1 previous close vote is common.

A flag to close a post is considered to be handled if it is marked helpful. This happens if the post receives at least one close vote, regardless of the outcome of the close review.

For example, you flagged https://askubuntu.com/questions/1382302/ubuntu-20-04-disappears-from-windows-10-wsl2-after-reboot for closure, and another user subsequently voted to close it (I can see this in the post timeline, but it is not visible to non-mods, frustratingly). The close vote aged away (incidentally, the close vote was not cast from the queue). One leave open vote was cast, but that would not remove the post from the queue, so a strict perspective would consider the close effort unhandled. However, the flag was marked helpful, and so it was "handled".

A flag to close is also considered handled if it is declined, which I think only happens if and only if the post receives no close votes AND the final outcome of the review is leave open (this requires 3 leave open votes*). This is okay - we can consider the close effort handled there, I think.

To be clear:

• A single close vote cast on a post flagged for closure instantly handles the flag as helpful.
• If the close review is resolved as leave open before any close votes are cast, any flag to close on it is declined.

Given that the post receiving only one close vote is sufficient to handle close flags, I am not surprised that most such flags do get "handled", although the post does not really get handled in many such cases.

Just a thought - I would be surprised if posts primarily came to the Close Votes queue from flags - I think they are at least as likely, if not more likely, to arrive there because they receive a close vote from a user with at least 3k reputation. When one reviews the CV queue, one can see the previous close votes the question received. If no votes are seen, the post only has a flag. I feel this is rare - the case for less than 1 in 20 posts, while having only 1 previous close vote is common.

_{* that is, 3 leave open votes by normal users - a mod voting to leave open at any point would also complete the review, automatically declining any unhandled flags to close}