In the past few weeks, I've been noticing a number of questions in the "Close Vote" queue that already have 3 or 4 close votes - but no one has taken the time to leave a comment to indicate the problem.
Sometimes it may be obvious; other times it won't be. I will usually take the time to add a comment at that point (especially if I agree with the close vote), so the OP has some indication of what they might need to add, or how the question could possibly be changed to be reopened eventually.
(I certainly see a large number of questions that do have such comments; but, there seems to be an increase in those that don't).
It seems logical to me to have a screen that encourages comments, if not as a part of the "Close Vote" page, then when clicking "Close" on the question screen itself. This could be similar to the page to encourage a comment on a low-quality post when clicking "Recommend Deletion", where the default action is "No Comment" (and there probably wouldn't be a list of pre-written comments to choose from). It wouldn't force someone to leave some sort of a comment, but it would at least remind them that such can be helpful.
I believe this happened on 8 of the 32 close votes I've made in the past 5 days; that's 25%:
- Clustering configuration for postgresql-9.6
- What could be the reason for “heavy IO” activity in the database when SQL Server Change Tracking is enabled?
- Bidding system design
- Is it better to split an entity into multiple tables or keep all the information in one
- SQL 2014 - Remove and Add DB from AG (I removed my comments and flagged the OP's responses as no longer needed after editing them into the question)
- Replication feature in SQL Server 2017 on Linux (I commented on an earlier version of this; noting that asking people to vote for your Connect item isn't a question....)
- “Command not supported for views” error when opening DBF file with MS Access
- SQL Server 2016 Temporal table
Some of the other 24 questions had no comments from anyone. 2 were migrated to stackoverflow; one was too broad, but I couldn't come up with any helpful tips.
Of these 8 questions, 5 were asked by first-timers, 1 by a existing SE user who was new to DBA.SE, and one by someone for whom this was their 4th question (first being from 3 months ago). The one asked by someone who'd been around for a while was reopened once it was edited to include an actual question.
I agree with Aaron Bertrand's comment below, that many of the close reasons are an adequate explanation of the problem with the question: in particular, most of the options under "off-topic", "duplicate", and "primarily opinion-based".
However, "unclear what you're asking" and "too broad" can be a little daunting, especially for relatively new users. And (in my opinion) giving the users a direction in fixing the problem can result in the question not needing to be closed in the first place. Even a comment that you're voting to close the question gives them a bit more advanced notice (and can help others reviewing the question see the logic of why you nominated it to be closed). Most of the examples above were closed as "too broad".
Note that we don't just have "first post" reviews to filter out/downvote those who are obnoxious, contentious, or spammers, but to help new users learn to use the system better; to encourage them to become long-term, positive contributors.
