<p>Currently the process that we have tried to follow for closing questions is as follows:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Update the "<a href="https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/213/list-of-candidate-questions-to-be-closed">List of candidate questions to be closed</a>" list with a link to the question that is proposed to be closed with some reasoning.</p></li>
<li><p>Provide a link on the question's comments to the meta thread so that the OP or anyone else who wants to give their input will have a say in closing the question.</p></li>
<li><p>After a reasonable amount of time we either close the question or keep it open.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The above process does add a lot of transparency to the question closing process but is a pain to implement (especially steps 1 and 2). </p>

<p>Two key points:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I think it is desirable to maintain transparency so that the reasons for closing questions are clear and the community gets a chance to debate the merits of the question.</p></li>
<li><p>In my opinion, it is preferable that discussions about the merits of the question (reg closing or not) happen on the meta site to keep the question page itself uncluttered.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Is there any way in which we can simplify this process?</p>

<p>PS: If the above is too complex a process then we can simply abandon it and revert to a standard voting procedure. If someone (either the OP or someone else) needs to discuss some aspect of a closed question (e.g., clarify reasons for closing, request for re-opening etc) then they can open a meta thread for that purpose.</p>
