Should questions "solved by a reboot" be closed?

Question

Based on the comment by the OP of this question, "After a reboot, everything worked out", I flagged the question for closure. It's my understanding that we close questions that are no longer answerable. In my opinion "reboot your server" is a good suggestion, but not really an answer to the question.

Not feeling one of the canned flags addressed this situation, I used a mod intervention flag, which was declined with the explanation:

How does this require mod intervention. Write a self-answer or delete.

I don't have enough rep to delete the question and, as explained above, my understanding is this question needs to be closed, not answered.

Was I wrong to initiate an effort to close this question?

Based on the decline reason instructing me to "self-answer", I'm wondering if the mod thought I was the OP. This would explain the instruction to delete. If this was a misunderstanding, no harm done, but I'm still interested to know the Server Fault community's stance on handling questions of this type.

Answer 1

There's a difference between "I don't know what happened but a reboot fixed it" and "A reboot is needed because reasons". The later is useful, for those unaware that a reboot is necessary. Consider upgrading some drivers in Windows "Why my device doesn't work as I expected?", which is an expected issue if you didn't restart the system. Basically, it wasn't a random reboot that solved the issue, but a sensible process that is necessary to complete the task at hand. Those shouldn't be closed.

The ones that without any rhyme nor reason gets fixed by a reboot... aren't that useful, and might just get closed as "non reproducible".

Answer 2

Subsequent to my posting this Meta question, the question I referenced in my post has been put on hold. I therefore conclude it was correct to initiate action to close this question.

Based on the following comment on the question, it appears a custom-close reason was used:

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because a reboot solved the problem.

This is indeed what I would have done if I had the necessary rep.

It's still unclear to me if it was incorrect to use a mod flag in this case. As the question is now closed as "off-topic", perhaps I could have instead flagged it as such. However, I observe that none of the close reasons available to me¹ reasonably describe why this question should have been closed. Had I flagged it as, say "Blatantly off-topic," I would expect close-voters in the queue to observe that the content of the question is in-fact on-topic, and disagree with the close flag.

It would still be helpful as I continue contributing to Server Fault to know what is expected of me in a case such as this.

¹As of this writing I'm a 1.9k rep user and don't have access to the free-text close reason.

Answer 3

After thinking to it, I wanted to give my idea about the question.

For your main question: Should questions “solved by a reboot” be closed

It's a case by case for me. As like the example you gave, yes. The fact you talked of it there on meta accelerated the closure without any more intervention from you. On the other hand for a router or a switch, that a reboot resolve the issue, it can be a firmware problem or such that the trouble can come back later when the gear is in overuse, so it can be tricky to close all such question at first sigh. I v-t-c on the example you gave, but I would not v-t-c on all issue that a reboot might solve the issue.

For the second part of your question, how the moderator's reacted;

How does this require mod intervention. Write a self-answer or delete.

I feel like RobMoir's told, as I just think the moderator though you were the OP.

I searched through meta stackexchange, and the usage of custom flag is not directly stated when to do or not, as comment like that seem constant;

Well, as I see it custom moderator flags shouldn't be used to just close a question, except in extreme cases e.g. bounty preventing standard close votes, user who post tons of crappy questions, etc.

or there is a point of view that I like for using close flag (not custom close flag) wrote by womble;

When you flag a question for mod attention, you are requesting closure. As Michael Hampton described, it turned up in the close review queue and, as I believed the question wasn't worthy of closure, I clicked "Leave Open". A mod clicking "Leave Open" is not some sort of super-vote that causes the question to be forever left open. All it does is clear the flag (if I had skipped the review, another mod would still have had to deal with it).

As you can see using a moderator flag can be tricky if the moderator don't think like you as from him a leave open vote will decline your flag, but keep in mind the intent is not to rebuke yourself. The intent is just that if the moderator don't think at 100% that it must be a direct closure, he will then wait the community to close the question.

Ofcourse, when you will be at 3K, this discussion will be history :)