Why are questions being closed instead of taken down?

Question

I've noticed a bunch of questions saying they were "closed". I'm wondering why these questions aren't just being taken down. If they're closed and nobody is going to answer or comment on them anyway, then all they're really doing is plugging up the questions section...

Comments

Its so they can be visible for a short while before hiding it.

Also you can still comment on closed questions I think.

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This question has already been asked. https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/meta/65889/

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This question hasn't been asked before. The answer just happened to be in another thread. Taking this down would be an unhelpful precedence, and way too strict.
In terms of the question, I'm mostly leaving duplicate questions that got good content in them before the original thread was pointed out. Otherwise, I'll probably just hide on instant after sending the closing message.
I guess we're still figuring out what system works best for us here, so keep the feedback coming.

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Okay, thanks for the info.

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So if the answer was there, then can I copy-paste the answer from that thread into this one?
I thought the whole point of asking questions in Pokebase or Meta was to add information to this site. Why should we ask questions if their answers are already on this site?

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Yeah you can do that if you like.
It’s impractical to remove threads because the answer showed up elsewhere. That’s impossible to enforce consistently, and it’s really annoying for askers as it means they have to be ridiculously thorough checking the site beforehand. We’re not just adding information, we’re trying to run an enjoyable and accessible community around the platform. Adding grossly stringent policies like that stops up doing that.
My interpretation of the ‘duplicate question’ rule is extremely lenient. You’d have to post a near-identical thread for me to take it down, and even then I will look for a way to keep it up. That especially applies to meta where there is a much slower stream of content.
Anyway this is derailing the thread, so I’m going to stop discussing this now.

Answer 1

Closing questions is a precursor to hiding them. The advantage for users is that their post doesn't suddenly disappear, they can see a reason it's closed. Closed questions can be hidden at a later date (for example a week later).
Editors/Mods can now see a "close" button next to "hide". When clicking that you'll get a box labelled "Reason for closing this question, or URL of duplicate question". If you're closing due to rule-breaking (for example it's an opinion question) then put a short reason in the box. If you're closing due to a duplicate question, copy and paste the URL of that question in the box. For the latter, when closed it will show a link to the duplicate question.

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