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So who determines if a post should be re-opened?

It seems that anyone can close a question, but re-opening is a different story.

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  • 1
    This is entirely too broad to answer in any reasonable way, other than what the help center already says: It requires 5 users with 3000+ reputation (or 1 moderator) to reopen a question, the same amount it needs for closing it. If you have a more specific question about reopening a particular question (or a type of questions), please provide more context. – TARS Aug 17 '16 at 14:38
  • This should be on Meta.SE (which probably already has an answer). – Null Mod Aug 17 '16 at 14:40
  • Related: What's the process for getting a closed question re-opened? – Möoz Aug 18 '16 at 5:36
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    Shog9, of course. Personally. For every post. – Adamant Aug 19 '16 at 23:21
  • As the existing answers point out, the same people (those with 3K reputation) get to vote on reopening questions as get to vote on closing them in the first place. It is always possible that, when it's a close decision, they have a tendency to not vote to close (giving the benefit of the doubt to the poster) and not to vote to reopen (giving the benefit of the doubt to the people who already voted to close). – Blackwood Aug 22 '16 at 2:10
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Anyone who can vote to close can also vote to reopen.

Voting to reopen works in more or less the same way as voting to close: five users with 3k+ reputation are enough to reopen any closed question, and moderator votes are binding (as are gold-tag-badge-holder votes when it comes to duplicate questions).

This is covered in the help centre:

What if I disagree with the closure of a question? How can I reopen it?

Stack Exchange is collaboratively built, maintained, and moderated by the community. If you see a question and you disagree with the stated reason of its closure, you should first try to edit the question to improve it as much as possible. Read the close notice and any comments carefully to address concerns raised there. Closed questions that receive edits within the first 5 days of closure are automatically put into a review queue to be considered for reopening.

Additionally, you can:

  1. Leave a comment on the question itself calling for it to be reopened. Be detailed: explain why the question shouldn't have been closed. Be constructive: name-calling is as likely to drive folks away as it is win them to your cause. Remember, anyone on the site with at least 3,000 reputation points can vote to reopen a question - even if a moderator closed it.
  2. Be sure that you've read the close notice and any comments on the question so you can address any concerns raised there. Addressing the concerns often means editing the post, which any user may do.
  3. Flag the question for moderator attention. Again, explain why it should be reopened. There is more than one moderator, and moderators do reconsider their decisions.
  4. If you have at least 3,000 reputation points, vote to reopen yourself.

If you're simply unsure about the validity of the closure, the best place to ask is on the community's meta site. Asking in the meta site allows those who took the action to comment, and will help others to learn about the issues being discussed. You can find a link to a site's meta in the two place in every site's top bar: under the "help" menu in the upper right, and in the Stack Exchange site switcher in the upper left.

Reopening a question follows the same process as closing a question.

Users with 3,000 reputation can cast up to 24 reopen votes per day. When a question reaches 5 reopen votes, it is no longer closed, and new answers may be submitted. You may only vote to close or reopen a question once. To cast a reopen vote, click the "reopen" link beneath the question.

Moderators may close or reopen any question with a single vote.

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You! And the community.

The fact is, you have more than 3K rep.

It is in your power to reopen anything.

Of course, our gods mods also can do it singlehandedly.

But that doesn't matter :P

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  • And a single reopen vote kicks it into the reopen queue, so any user can get it the attention needed, including the person who asked it (if they have the reputation). – Adamant Aug 17 '16 at 21:37
  • @Adamant Isn't it "any user with 3K rep" that can access the reopen queue? – Blackwood Aug 18 '16 at 2:10
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    @Blackwood - Yes. – Adamant Aug 18 '16 at 2:15

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