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A few hours ago, I voted to close this question for being a duplicate:

How did Obi-Wan know Darth Vader was Anakin?

It closed immediately, despite the fact that I only have a gold tag badge for , not .

Apparently the post did (at one point) have a tag but that was removed over a year ago. So why am I still able to close it on my own?

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    I remember reading a similar question where it was stated that this behavior was intentional so that a person is prevented from avoiding a close by just removing a tag. Unfortunately, I can't find the question at the moment so I can't link to it.
    – numaroth
    Nov 7, 2014 at 22:05
  • @amaranth Thanks for the heads-up. I'd noticed the change, but hadn't remembered this question. (I also left a comment on that main meta thread which Valorum may find relevant.)
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 12, 2016 at 21:16
  • Tagging status-completed since you now have a gold star-wars tag badge as well :-P
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Jul 12, 2016 at 21:16
  • @Randal'Thor - Next up "Movies". The stupidest gold badge of all.
    – Valorum
    Jul 12, 2016 at 21:41

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Update: The behavior in question has been changed, and the original situation should not happen under current (7/2016) rules:

We have changed the behavior of the dupehammer. It now lets you single-handedly close as duplicate unless you have participated in editing the tag (either by adding the tag yourself, or approving an edit that did).

https://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/308573

Original answer:

In order to prevent abuse of the dupehammer, the dupehammer applies only to those tags present when the question was asked.

From the MSE announcement:

  • You can instantly close as a duplicate any question that was originally asked with a tag you have a gold badge for.
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    Surely if the tag has been removed, this is no longer valid.
    – Valorum
    Nov 7, 2014 at 21:53
  • 2
    Perhaps. You could post a feature request on MSE if you want.
    – Kevin
    Nov 7, 2014 at 21:58
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    So, not a bug just a weird feature.
    – Valorum
    Nov 7, 2014 at 22:04
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    Did you come up with "duperhammer"? Love it
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Nov 8, 2014 at 14:29
  • @DVK - Similar to a banhammer; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banhammer
    – Valorum
    Nov 8, 2014 at 19:15
  • @Richard - I've been on the internet long enough to know what Banhammer is, thankyouverymuch :)
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Nov 8, 2014 at 23:59
  • @DVK - And been on the receiving end of one, if memory serves :-)
    – Valorum
    Nov 9, 2014 at 0:00
  • @DVK meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/dupehammer
    – m0sa StaffMod
    Dec 5, 2014 at 14:34
  • Hmm. So, if I'm posting a question, and I don't want any random clown with a gold badge to be able to close it as a duplicate, all I have to do is post the question with some silly tag, wait five minutes, and then edit in the appropriate tags?
    – user14111
    May 31, 2015 at 4:16

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