Can moderators confirm abandoned questions should be closed TL, not NARQ?

Question

For quite some time, we've been using the too localized close reason for abandoned questions.

Of course, if the question merits closure for another reason--it's a duplicate, it couldn't have been answered in the form it was in (irrespective of age), it's a call for discussion rather than an answerable question--then it may be closed with a different close reason.

But the "routine" close reason for abandoned questions these days is too localized, not not a real question as indicated here.

Can we get some kind of semi-"official" clarification from moderators about this? Perhaps a comment on that question? Moderators have stated too localized is the correct close reason here and here, but the older, more popular question is still more prominent. But I believe that, as things currently stand, it's hard for people coming to meta to understand how abandoned questions are handled. As an alternative (or in addition) to commenting or posting, perhaps one of the questions that says to use too localized could be featured for a while.

^{Unless such clarification has already been prominently given and I'm the only one missing it, in which case, my bad!}

Answer 1

Instead of just trusting flags and closing random stuff up we as moderators need to have a look at the information on the posts before making up your minds. There are many possible actions to be taken and not all posts deserve to be "just closed".

For abandoned questions and linked posts on the regulators room I tend to follow these guide lines:

1. Check if the user has returned after posting the question: a one time user that posted something months ago and has not returned will probably not do so. Just that fact will affect my idea of something that can savaged vs automatic closure.

2. Read the post and see if there is enough information on it: not enough information will make it a candidate for NARQ because I have already checked if the user will or not be logging in soon.

   • If we are talking about someone that logs in frequently I would rather drop a comment and wait couple of days to check on any remarks from him.
   • Close the post as NRAQ if its a one time user.

3. If the post contains enough information but the question seems not to have attracted any answers or it is related with a possible fixed issue, ie: question about previous releases and packages that might been fixed or changed in the meanwhile, I will close it as too localized.

In resume: I will close question as too localized when I can verify that the user will probably will not return, the question is complete, but the post it self cannot be answered because the information provided might seem "volatile" and any possible answer given at the time might not be relevant to our current situation.

Questions that are worth answering or can be salvaged with a bounty or a simple answer (some of them are really, really simple to answer) will be treated and fix as far as possible. An answered question is always better than a closed one.

A side note from that is that any flags that you guys make are useful and welcomed by all of us. Keep up the great work and effort, it is always a pleasure to see flags filling in the queue.