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I found this question on the main site: Map points on a square onto a Torus and there are probably more like it.

The question was closed for being unclear, however it has an upvoted answer which was accepted by the OP. In such cases I don't think the question really deserves to be closed for such a reason, as the OP clearly got what (s)he needed.

What do you think should be done in such cases?

(I have voted to reopen the linked quesiton on this regard.)

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  • Since there is an upvoted and accepted answer, it won't be deleted. So I wouldn't care unless you want to post a new answer.
    – Kuba
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 12:19
  • 2
    @Kuba I believe it is true that the system won't automatically delete these, but I have been deleting old, closed questions after about one year, as part of site maintenance. (I am a bit behind at the moment.) That bears upon this question to be sure.
    – Mr.Wizard Mod
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 14:41
  • Related: (1101)
    – Mr.Wizard Mod
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 14:44
  • Here is an example of a question like this that I considered voting to close. Although it has an accepted answer, all of the proposed approaches give different results, and I think that OP will have a hard time telling the difference between them based on the example given, because the matrix is mostly zeros. Thus, I am not sure that acceptance is well-considered in this case. How many other examples exist like this I don't know.
    – Oleksandr R.
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 15:14
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    I voted to leave open on the same grounds. What should happen, I suppose, is that some kind soul with some spare time would edit the question to make it clear enough to be reopened. Someone (Mr. W, in fact, doing his site maintenance) once asked me to do that, as I was the one with the upvoted & accepted answer. That made sense to me, since the answerer presumably knew what question they thought they had answered. (In addition to spare time, the answerer would also have to have a sufficient commitment to the quality of the site to feel it was worth it.)
    – Michael E2
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 15:30
  • The question was not really unclear, IMO, but it was not well done in general. I tried to improve it, seeing as it seems like it'll be re-opened now.
    – Oleksandr R.
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 19:14
  • @MichaelE2 Care to post that comment as an answer?
    – Mr.Wizard Mod
    Commented Jan 10, 2016 at 7:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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I voted to leave the question open for the same reasons the OP gives, but I didn't have strong feelings about whether it should be reopened. Like @Kuba, if someone indicates they have a new answer to contribute, I am more inclined to reopen a question, assuming the quality of the question is not really bad.

What should happen, I suppose, is that some kind soul with some spare time would edit the question to make it clear enough to be reopened. Someone (Mr. W, in fact, doing his site maintenance) once asked me to do that, as I was the one with the upvoted & accepted answer. That made sense to me, since the answerer presumably knew what they thought the question was when they answered. And since the answer was accepted, they must have been right, or at least close.

In addition to having the spare time to edit the question, the answerer would also have to have a sufficient commitment to the quality of the site to feel it was worth it.

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