Some of our close reasons include a request for additional information, with the implication that this might allow them to reopen. That strikes me as somewhat off-putting to newcomers, so I tend to comment with the request these rather than VTC unless they're pretty close to irredeemable.
It might be kinder to give these a delayed action. "We'll have to close this in a week unless you can clarify/focus" would not have as strong a negative connotation.
Of course making that work would require changes at the SE core level, but I wanted to float a trial balloon before finding out if it was a lead balloon.
