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We have a tag. Why are titles being cluttered up with their status? Are moderators not responding to flags asking to have things marked ? I find this is really decreasing the readability of meta for me.

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    I do find the presence of a bunch of "(Done) Reopen" in "Hot Meta Posts" distracting. Tagging them [support] instead of [discussion] would avoid that.
    – user32293
    Nov 10, 2018 at 19:21
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    Well, ok, but perhaps an accepted answer of "this was done on x date" would be better. It would show as a resolved thing in the list of questions. That's mentioned in the linked question. Nov 10, 2018 at 19:21
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    I like the (Done) it shows me if I need to look at it or not. We don't have a huge amount of things to browse through on meta, but we do have some specific ones that it's good to see at a quick glance rather than open them to find out.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 10, 2018 at 21:08
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    I thought that [status-completed] can only be added by mods? Also, I think the Real Problemâ„¢ here is that it's needed to make so many "please reopen ..." posts on meta here :-/ Nov 10, 2018 at 22:22
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    @MartinTournoij you're correct. I still like the (Done) though, it's highlighting something of interest.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 10, 2018 at 22:24
  • On reflection this is actually a pretty good question as it gives the opportunity to see viewpoints on a very visible matter.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 11, 2018 at 3:05
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    OK, I have done as suggested and removed the 'Done' from my last 4 reopen posts and substituted with an accepted answer.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 12, 2018 at 7:47
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    I don't think I understand the problem. How does it clutter old Meta titles? Why is it distracting? Nov 12, 2018 at 21:58
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    @JimG. are you sure that is the question you wanted to link? That one is a reopen-request, when this one is not asking for such... perhaps you wanted to link another post instead?
    – DarkCygnus Mod
    Nov 13, 2018 at 16:07

3 Answers 3

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The tag can only be added by moderators, and we get a lot of questions here asking for specific actions on questions (close, reopen, delete, fix...). Asking for the tag creates unnecessary work for the moderators when the community has better tools.

As I wrote previously, the best solution to this problem is an accepted answer. An accepted answer is the standard SE way of saying "I got the help I needed". I agree that as the number of these questions increases, the edited titles are making meta harder to use.

I would prefer that we leave the titles alone and use answers. I didn't object to editing titles before, but there were fewer of these requests then. People, please use answers for this. The OP can add an answer and then accept it, if nobody else has added one.

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    In fairness to you I have tried the experiment by answering my own question, once it has all the reopen votes, I'll accept my own answer rather than put (Done). Perhaps you could even take a few seconds to judge if it's a duplicate and cast a reopen vote, or give reasons why it is a duplicate.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 11, 2018 at 5:37
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The tag adds unnecessary work to the mods already full plates. And as a comment shows we've been specifically asked not to use them for such.

Requiring an accepted answer needs two users input rather than one. It needs to be both answered and accepted. Which can create a big delay depending on when an OP is available. We have large disparities in timezone.

(Done) can be entered by any user with editing rights, and as far as I can see is done as soon as the last reopen vote is cast or an interested person sees it has been reopened. This immediately shows everyone they do not need to action anything here and can scroll past.

It also highlights a particular concern we have been looking at lately. But it's greatest advantage is that users will not waste effort entering a meta reopen request, then finding the question, and then finding that it's already been reopened.

In my opinion this has less of a negative affect on the 'user experience' than other options. I actually see it as a positive and proactive solution, but that is just my opinion.

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  • if the OP is the one who adds the answer, it doesn't need two people. I see your point that anyone can add the (done) but I don't like the effect when half the titles look like that. Nov 11, 2018 at 10:38
  • @KateGregory I agree with you, but for instance if it was me, I'm other side of the World from most people here, it could be 6 - 8 or more hours before I realised something was reopened. By the same token I could do the last vote and the OP may not know for several hours. So in my opinion, it's a toss up between 'looks' and efficiency. I don't feel that strongly either way, but I know it's a bit off putting if you go to vote to open, and it's already been done.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 11, 2018 at 11:10
  • @KateGregory I see where you're coming from but I'm of the same opinion as Kilisi that this is the best way of tracking these questions out of an admittedly poor set of options. Acceptance just isn't that visible for meta to me and given that these questions are by nature very temporal I don't see done tags as overly problematic. Meta is never going to win a beauty contest either way.
    – Lilienthal Mod
    Nov 12, 2018 at 14:37
  • I agree, I tried it out, and I think it makes it less visible as well. (Done) immediately tells us it was a reopen request and that it's finished with. Unsure if we get any badges or anything for accepted answers on meta, I guess that might make a difference as well. So far I have my first 4 accepted meta answers I think, all accepted by me. I'll go with whatever majority decide.
    – Kilisi Mod
    Nov 12, 2018 at 14:43
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It's not ideal, but it is the easiest way to make it clear that something in Hot Meta Posts has been reopened, or that some other action has been taken (so people don't need to waste their time looking at it).

If you view question lists on Meta, an accepted answer would be comparable (in terms of effort required and visibility), but this wouldn't be visible on Hot Meta Posts.

I mentioned some of my thoughts about this in another post. The TL;DR is that the "better" solutions would involve system changes.

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  • that's a valid point, thanks Nov 12, 2018 at 17:41

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