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12:13
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A: ICBM and space-related weapons questions have been on-topic, why change now?

JCRMWhile the question could be cut down to a sub-orbital trajectory question (and closed as a duplicate), that doesn't seem to be what the OP was be asking. The launch detection, threat assessment and response procedures needed to answer the question are really not on topic.

I disagree, we have plenty of questions and answer about military radar stations, radar detection, etc. I think answers (if not pre-blocked) can draw from existing and therefore on-topic material here already. Let's open it back up and allow some answers to be posted before pre-deciding nobody can do a good job of writing an answer within the site's scope.
I've added a few more examples to the question, it seems these topics have been fine until now.
@uhoh you're very fond of this term "insta-closing". Other than "I don't agree with the closure" what does it mean exactly?
I am a huge fan of insta-closing of a post is off topic. If it can be improved, it can always be reopened. If it cannot, at least it gets it out the way quickly, which is so much better for the site.
@uhoh but it appears to be OK to close some questions quickly, such as this recent one you voted to close space.stackexchange.com/q/44232/6944 before it had a chance for any answers to be posted. Again, is there any real distinction between "I don't agree with the closure" and "insta-closing"? Just because people don't agree with you doesn't make them members of a "cabal", that's absolutely ludicrous.
@OrganicMarble there's nothing there about space at all, you can just replace "space" with "vacuum" in the title; setting up a classic homework for the differential equations for a greenhouse heat transfer problem would be okay in Engineering SE or Physics SE, but there are no specific aspects of Space there whatsoever. Find a borderline space-based or rocket-based example that others argued was on-topic and I closed if you want to try to show some inconsistency! I do make an effort to be consistent and careful in my close votes, so you'll have to look hard. This is not a reasonable example.
@OrganicMarble What I said there is: I’m voting to close this question because it is not about Space Exploration. It's a physics problem and might be suitable for Physics SE if clarified. Actually communications satellites are not about Space Exploration either and yet they are certainly on topic here. I'd just like to extend an ICBM the same courtesy we do to a Starlink I guess.
12:13
@uhoh Right, in your opinion (which I share) that wasn't on topic, so closing it quickly was OK. Why can't you give those who have differing opinions on other questions the courtesy of not imputing sinister motives to them? (Although I have to admit the "cabal" thing is the funniest thing I've read in days, I'm still laughing about that. My fellow Cabal members Zebadiah and Magdalene will kick me out if I talk about it too much though)
@OrganicMarble you're generally a straight-shooter but I would like to call you on this; voting to close is not expressing an opinion. The VTC process is not a poll. Quick-closing is the most aggressive of measures and blocks others from having an opportunity to post an answer, sometimes for days, sometimes forever. We can leave comments or suggestions how to improve a question, and we can edit it as well, and we can just wait. But the quick-close is an aggressive action and affects all users because nobody can post an answer once five people say so.
It is incorrect to say "I'm just expressing my opinion." That's what comments are for.
Once again, we're gonna have to disagree. But I don't impute sinister motives to you!
@OrganicMarble With what do you disagree exactly? That voting to close is more than just expressing an opinion? That comments are where we should express opinions? That quick closing blocks others from having a chance to post an answer? Or that it is the most aggressive of measures and blocks others from having an opportunity to post an answer? I can't see anything that a seasoned user disagreeing with here. What is it exactly?
I disagree with you accusing people who vote to close questions of being in a sinister cabal or otherwise having evil motivations, other than just honestly disagreeing with you. "Your way or the highway"
@OrganicMarble so apart from that one word, are we in agreement on the substance of the issues discussed on this page?
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No, I don't agree with this statement "voting to close is not expressing an opinion" You seem to think there is always a clear right or wrong answer to whether a question is on topic or not (and your position is of course always right), I disagree with that. But I have spent far too much time on this.
No I don't seem to think that. I do think that there are ways to improve questions that don't block the rest of the community from having a chance to answer.
Quick closing is as designed @uhoh, to prevent people from posting answers to questions. You could take a suggestion to the main Meta, that closes are not allowed for the first 24 hours, to give people a chance to answer a question.
@JCRM these things were designed for high question rate sites; starting with Stack Overflow. A low Q rate site like this does not need to use the same aggressive closing practices developed for those high Q rate sites.
Then take it to Meta, and qualify it "forlow usage sites" @uhoh
This is meta! I'm trying to encourage the community to slow down on the heavy-handed closings to match our sleepy pace of question posting. If one drives too fast, one could go to a repair shop and ask for the car to be slowed down, or one could just not press the pedal so hard. There's only a handful of people close aggressively here, it doesn't make sense to request a software feature in a response to a half-dozen users.
12:13
No, the main meta @uhoh -- you seem to believe the feature doesn't work as designed, so take it there and see if you can't get it fixed.
No I don't seem to believe that. An SE site is also a community of users in the same way that a moving car has a driver. I can see that my previous comment was ignored so this one may be as well, but I'll reiterate in case it's an honest mistake: There's only a handful of people who aggressively close here...
and there's only one user that aggressively complains about it @uhoh youtu.be/pKRj7QCIXnY?t=30
Change for the better comes slow sometimes, and many users just don't see the plight of new users as particularly interesting or important, but complacency isn't the solution.
Indeed, @uhoh, complacency isn't the solution.

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