# Closing as duplicate without up voted answer

This question was closed as a duplicate of this one and the latter doesn't have any up voted answers.

When I try to close a question as a duplicate of a question which doesn't have up voted answers, I am unable to do so, (this even prompted me to flag the question for moderator attention giving the duplicate link), yet five people managed to close the first question as duplicate of the second one.

What am I missing?

The two questions you linked to are asked by the same person; in this special case duplicate closures are allowed to avoid the "have an answer" check. They are particularly useful when a user cross-posts on multiple sites and through migrations all copies ended up on the same site.

• So given a user, I can vote to close any question of that user as a duplicate of any other question of the same user? – Git Gud Jun 5 '14 at 11:46
• If you are asking about "whether it is forbidden by software", yes: see meta.stackexchange.com/questions/166707/… Though the answer to the question you actually asked, in the way you actually phrased it, is most certainly no, for obvious reasons... – Willie Wong Jun 5 '14 at 11:53
• I'm confused. What I meant to ask in my comment is if given a user, the software allows me to vote to close any question of that user as a duplicate of any other question of the same user. I want to understand how the software works so I know when I can try to close as a duplicate, instead of unnecessarily calling for moderator attention as I did. – Git Gud Jun 5 '14 at 12:04
• OK, I tested it. The software does allow me to do it. Thanks. – Git Gud Jun 5 '14 at 12:22
• I think what Willie was trying to say is that yes, theoretically you can. But if you attempt to close each of his 9 answers as duplicates of each other he is going to get a bit annoyed... – user1729 Jun 5 '14 at 12:24
• as @user1729PhD clarified: you should only vote to close as duplicate questions that are duplicates. Just going about voting to close random questions as duplicates of other random questions is a sure ticket to get your account suspended. :-) – Willie Wong Jun 5 '14 at 14:26