<p>My question <a href="https://stats.stackexchange.com/q/624690/110833"><em>Clustering vectors of unequal size</em></a> was unilaterally closed by a moderator less than an hour after it was published. While the question might require some improvement or might be even too general for the Cross Validated SE, I am taken aback by the fact that:</p>
<ul>
<li>Moderator hasn't made any prior attempt to clarify the question or help me improve it</li>
<li>Moderator chose to act unilaterally, rather than allow the community to judge the question and close it (if necessary) by the customary number of votes.</li>
</ul>
<p>I am looking for a clarification regarding the criteria by which moderators are allowed to close questions without consulting with the OP and the community.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong><br />
What is really expected as the answer to this question is a clear statement of the moderation policies and criteria for unilateral closure - most likely in a form of reference to an existing meta post, as I am certainly not the first one raising the question. At least this seems to be the practice in other communities, striving for objective moderation.</p>
<p><em>Further clarification (in response to a popular comment):</em><br />
Questions have a comments section, explicitly intended for posing a questions aiming at clarification (obviously, it is usually the OP who clarifies their question in response, not the moderator or other users.) This is the SE policy. In fact, the moderator did pose such a question, and I replied to it (and, upon the suggestion of another moderator, even included this reply in the body of the question.) But such a constructive discussion does not require immediate closure - so the question is about the criteria used by the moderation team for applying such a closure.</p>
