Questions closed should require discussion

Question

This question: Why do the Japanese wear masks like Surgeons in Tokyo? was closed with no down-votes, no discussion, no attempt to clarify for the user how to ask it appropriately, and an incorrect answer left in place. Other than the format, this adhered to the rules in the FAQ.

On the other stack sites, it takes votes to have a question closed, not a single decision maker. There needs to be discussion or agreement.

This could have been phrased,

 [title] I'm travelling to Tokyo, should I be wearing a mask?[/title]" 
 [body] I've seen people.... why is that, and should I do the same? [/body]

And a moderator could have gently nudged the poster to improve the format.

This is a valid question, and I would have answered:

Japan is a small island nation, where politeness as society are held in high regard;
people wear these masks when they are sick or have colds, to prevent the spread of
illness, not because of the quality of the air.

If questions truly don't adhere to the rules, so be it. But this stack site should use the same governance rules that the other stack sites have.

Answer 1

The rephrasing is a valid argument, and I agree that with reformulating it could be a fit. But in the way it's currently posed, it is off-topic -- it has nothing to do with travel, and the OP doesn't even imply that he/she have seen people wearing masks in Japan themselves. Rewording as per your suggestion is appropriate and I will personally vote to reopen should that happen.

On top of that, the answer is not incorrect, if you read it carefully:

[...] In fact it's the other way around. My Japanese friend always wears one when she has a cold because she doesn't want to infect other people!

The editing call is not for us as users to make -- the OP should be the one to do it. Changing completely the content of a question or answer of somebody else is frowned upon on SE, and you can certainly understand why. If the OP decides to edit and improve their question, then this question can be easily reopened. Remember that closing a question is not the same as deletion, and doesn't carry a penalty or a stigma.

Answer 2

Just to speak up here because I was the one who closed the question: I did leave a comment explaining that as the question is right now, it's off-topic for Travel.SE and the way it's phrased, perhaps the OP is more concerned with the cultural aspects of the discussion rather than travel - and linked to the appropriate Area51 proposal. If you've noticed elsewhere, then when there are questions that are slightly vague the moderators do leave advice on how to improve the questions.

As an aside, we do have the same close-vote system that other SE sites do - questions can be closed by members once a question receives five close votes, but as with other SE sites moderators can close down questions with a single vote. In the initial stages of forming the community, it's important that collectively we all keep this Q&A site 'on-topic'. There have been numerous occasions when users have close-voted questions not yet noticed by moderators.