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Question Reference: What can stop a Lightsaber? [duplicate]

Some weeks ago we were having a big discussion on a question of mine wether it's a duplicate or not. I am posting this without minding what was the result of that.

Valorum closed my question as a duplicate (Mind that only one person supported that at the moment). I strongly believe that my question (without even needing any editing) is not a duplicate because my question is talking/asking specifically for weapons that can be used by someone to fight against a Lightsaber and the question that was tagged by Valorum as duplicated is clearly talking about effective armors against blasters etc. A person with a bit of logic can see the clear difference between these two questions, so I kindly urge you to reopen my question.

To continue, as for persons with administrative rights or gold badges, because they got one of these it doesn't mean that they are always CORRECT or that they are ABOVE RULES. This is the second time in a row that my question is getting closed without me being asked to revise the question or give an explanation as for why my question is not a duplicate or the "investigator" trying to talk about it (and see even if he is wrong about his thinking), which as a fact I know it should be done from our previous duplicated question contradiction. In my opinion if there can't be order and rules/regulations following then something should be done for this to change. Best case scenario start the process of making rules on under which circumstances someone with privileges should close a question as a duplicate or any other state or not.

Being proactive is better than have to clean up the mess later.

It is very nerve breaking and provocative when people close your questions without providing any reasons except for "I command I conquer".

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    Please see what a gold badge in a tag means. If it is marked as duplicate by someone who has earned a gold badge in the relevant tag, it most likely is a duplicate. To earn a gold badge, you have to prove extensive knowledge of the said work which is why they have the privilege to close questions as such.
    – Aegon
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 11:22
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    I'd suggest you read the question with which your question is marked duplicate. If the answers do contain answer for your question as well, then it is rightfully a duplicate. If not, you can edit your post to signify how your question is different and someone might nominate it for reopening.
    – Aegon
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 11:25
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    Relevant - meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/6944/…
    – Valorum
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 11:56
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    @Aegon I don't think we should be telling people to accept gold tag badge dupehammers just because "don't you know who I am?" Yes, these people know their stuff, but everyone can make mistakes. If someone feels their question was closed unjustly, they're perfectly entitled to post about it on meta (though admittedly this question could have been written in a less ranty way). Perhaps Valorum will explain here why an answer about armour solves the question of what weapons can fight effectively against a lightsabre, or perhaps the question will be reopened due to this post.
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:18
  • @Randal'Thor Agreed which is why I said "It is most likely a dupe", not "It is definitely a dupe". The second comment also deals with mistake on part of the person who closed the question. I just thought he needed to know why Gold badge holders are allowed to close question.
    – Aegon
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:21
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    It is easy to feel like having your question closed is a censure or personal attack, but it is not (or at least, it's not supposed to be). In part, questions are closed so that they can be fixed or edited without receiving new answers which may not be applicable to what you're looking for. In this instance, Valorum misunderstood the question, possibly because it was slightly unclear exactly what you meant (I don't think so, but that's a separate discussion). This is evident by the fact that the answer you got is about armor, not weapons.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:32
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    For the most part, what you've done is the prescribed action - close votes come in, or it gets closed, and you address them in comments, on meta, and finally by editing the question for clarity, and if it's truly not a dupe, it gets reopened.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:33
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    That said, doing things like demanding that Valorum reopen your question is the wrong action.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:35
  • @Aegon having a gold badge means you have good knowledge of something not that you are always right on what you say.... i know its nota dupe, if you want to be sure of that as well read both and then comment again please.
    – Sir. Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:37
  • Never said that you were wrong or he was wrong. Mistakes can be made by anyone. Which is why I made the second comment that if it isn't a duplicate, edit it, clarify that why it is not a dupe and reviewers will reopen it if they feel the same.
    – Aegon
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:39
  • @Randal'Thor you are correct, this question could have written in a less ranty way if it wasnt the second time in a row happening this to me.....
    – Sir. Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:39
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    @hedgehog I seem to recall you also went off on a rant the first time ... :-)
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:42
  • @phantom42 it is not in the rules but it is supported by the admins that before marking a question as a duplicate it is better first to talk with the OP and say why you think of that so that he is the chance to revise or edit the question before it si marked as a dupe. also the answer was for "weapon crafted using a Cortosis-weave" so as you can see its on weapons not armors.
    – Sir. Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:42
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    Actually, no. Stack-wide policy is to close questions quickly and then fix them. Again - to prevent attracting answers that don't address what you want them to.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:48
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    Admittedly the "close quickly" policy is more about preventing discussion-y questions from gathering a million discussion-y answers than it is about prevent duplicate questions from getting duplicate answers, but yes that is the network-wide policy, it's nothing new, and as a general rule of thumb it is the right thing to do if you want to maintain quality on a site like this.
    – Ixrec
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 13:30

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Your specific question

I'd rather not comment on this, since I never got into the Star Wars franchise. My gut feeling is to agree with you that it's not a duplicate, and if I weren't a mod I would vote to reopen, but I'm not going to use my mod powers to reopen it unilaterally. Now that you've raised the issue on meta, others who know more about Star Wars will see it and vote to reopen or not as they see fit.

Your general issue with duplicate closure

It's unfortunate that you (and others) feel that gold tag badge wielders frequently misuse their dupehammer powers. But if you feel that this functionality shouldn't exist, the correct place to raise your concerns would be main meta, since this isn't something that can be changed on a per-site basis. You might also like to read the post where this dupehammer power was first introduced.

As a moderator, with insta-close powers on all questions, I've also had to deal with the issue of when to use these powers and how to avoid the appearance of heavy-handed abuse. My personal rule is not to close a question unilaterally unless I'm absolutely certain it should be closed. I'm not afraid to hammer a question which is blatantly off-topic or opinion-based, but if I'm only 70% sure a question should be closed, I'll usually wait for 3 or 4 others to VTC before casting the final vote.

I would like to encourage our esteemed gold tag badge holders to follow a similar guideline when voting to close questions as duplicates: in very clear cases, feel free to dupehammer unilaterally, but if unsure, wait for a few others to VTC first. However, we can't force anyone to use their close-vote powers in any particular way. The whole point of giving gold tag badge holders the power to dupehammer is that they're trusted to have good judgement in that tag. When you've amassed that many good answers in a tag, the system assumes you know your stuff and should be able to detect dupes there. And if you screw up, there are always others who can vote to reopen.

What to do when your question is closed

You might like to read this meta answer: What's the process for getting a closed question re-opened? If your question gets closed (as a duplicate, or for any other reason), your first course of action should be to edit it, e.g. to make it clearer what you're asking or to explain why you don't think it should be closed. This will automatically send the question into the review queue, where the community can vote to reopen or leave closed. You could also try pinging some of the close-voters in comments (as you did, in this case). If these two approaches fail, then raise the issue with the community on meta as you've now done. Good luck!

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  • I got nothing else to add. You covered me 100%. Whatever you said was correct and I do HOPE that people will listen to what you said and use it as well. Your opinions/actions on the matter could be nothing else except an "example to follow". Thank you for the answer. Sincerely, hedgehog
    – Sir. Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 12:49
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    If only i could say something more it would be that, I dont say that the gold badge functionality shouldnt exhist. What i am saying is that, if you give to person a knife, he could use to clean an apple or stub someone on the neck... Its not about the powers you give to someone its about how he uses them... Lets not forget what also Spiderman said :D , Great power brings great responsibility. I am just saying that these two should always be balanced and if someone missbalanaces them he should be "helped" by someone to rebalance them.
    – Sir. Hedgehog
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 13:32
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    any other person with a gold badge in the tag, or any group of five users with re-open vote powers, or any mod can undo the action. the checks and balances work just fine.
    – phantom42
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 14:57

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