user1530: The question Is Avatar: the Last Airbender an anime? was closed for being opinion-based.
Yet, Can an animated show created outside Japan be called Anime? and What differentiates anime from regular cartoons? remain open.
I believe all three can be answered definitively (most likely with very similar answers). 
Regardless, I think either all three should have the same open/close status - unless someone can enlighten me as to why a specific series is different to the anime/cartoon comparison as a whole

user274: In my opinion, it is definitely not opinion-based and I voted to leave it open when these close-votes were cast.
So, why was it closed? Most likely people agreed with this comment by @Krazer:

There is no right answer to this. Call it what you will. The fact remains Anime == Cartoons. In Japan all cartoons are anime. In Korea, aeni, in China, donghua. People call it by the word from their respective nation because it distinguishes. It's what makes a Deep-Dish pizza different form a Sicilian pizza. Both are pizza, but quite different from one another. There is a designation, Avatar is simply an anime-style of animation. If I made a Turkish lamb hamburger with walnut-based sauce. All the spices and ingredients might taste Turkish, but you know a hamburger is not at all Turkish.

However, I think that this doesn't make the question opinion-based, and in fact is where the answer lies. Just because we cannot say objectively that to all people, all the time, Avatar (is or isn't) an anime, doesn't mean there is no answer. It just means the answer is slightly more elaborate than yes or no, which is totally okay.
At least twenty-one people agreed that the answer given was good enough to be worthy of being posted, and answered the question in a helpful manner. To me, that's reason enough to say that it's as free of bias, opinion, and influence as we can hope for on a site like this.

user1398: Since there are existing questions, the question should have been closed as duplicate of either of the other questions. I personally prefer this question as target for the duplicate closure What differentiates anime from regular cartoons?, since the answer is more comprehensive. Heck, I think there should only be a single question about this topic left open. The arguments are essentially the same, so there is no need to rehash the same content all over again.
Due to the ambiguous nature of the subject matter, the 3 question cited are likely to illicit answers to "rebut" the existing answers, while there is actually nothing to rebut, since both views are essentially valid in certain perspective.
(By the way, I initiated the opinion-based closure in chatroom, since it triggered my detector, which was trained from participating in SO in the years before the change in close reasons. In the old system, this question would have been closed as not constructive, since it triggers debate and extended discussion, and the views are equally valid.)

1530: <p>The question <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19566/is-avatar-the-last-airbender-an-anime/19567#19567">Is Avatar: the Last Airbender an anime?</a> was closed for being opinion-based.</p>

<p>Yet, <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/6198/can-an-animated-show-created-outside-japan-be-called-anime?lq=1">Can an animated show created outside Japan be called Anime?</a> and <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/69/what-differentiates-anime-from-regular-cartoons/81#81">What differentiates anime from regular cartoons?</a> remain open.</p>

<p>I believe all three can be answered definitively (most likely with very similar answers). </p>

<p>Regardless, I think either all three should have the same open/close status - unless someone can enlighten me as to why a specific series is different to the anime/cartoon comparison as a whole</p>
 274: <p>In my opinion, it is definitely <strong>not opinion-based</strong> and I voted to leave it open when these close-votes were cast.</p>

<p>So, why was it closed? Most likely people agreed with <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19566/is-avatar-the-last-airbender-an-anime/19567#comment26228_19566">this comment</a> by <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/63/%ca%9e%c9%b9%c9%90z%c7%9d%c9%b9">@Krazer</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>There is no right answer to this. Call it what you will. The fact remains Anime == Cartoons. In Japan all cartoons are anime. In Korea, aeni, in China, donghua. People call it by the word from their respective nation because it distinguishes. It's what makes a Deep-Dish pizza different form a Sicilian pizza. Both are pizza, but quite different from one another. There is a designation, Avatar is simply an anime-style of animation. If I made a Turkish lamb hamburger with walnut-based sauce. All the spices and ingredients might taste Turkish, but you know a hamburger is not at all Turkish.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>However, I think that this doesn't make the question opinion-based, and in fact is where the answer lies. Just because we cannot say objectively that <em>to all people, all the time, Avatar (is or isn't) an anime</em>, doesn't mean there is no answer. It just means the answer is slightly more elaborate than yes or no, which is totally okay.</p>

<p>At least twenty-one people agreed that the answer given was good enough to be worthy of being posted, and answered the question in a helpful manner. To me, that's reason enough to say that it's as free of bias, opinion, and influence as we can hope for on a site like this.</p>
 1398: <p>Since there are existing questions, the question should have been closed as duplicate of either of the other questions. I personally prefer this question as target for the duplicate closure <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/69/what-differentiates-anime-from-regular-cartoons">What differentiates anime from regular cartoons?</a>, since the answer is more comprehensive. Heck, I think there should only be a single question about this topic left open. The arguments are essentially the same, so there is no need to rehash the same content all over again.</p>

<p>Due to the ambiguous nature of the subject matter, the 3 question cited are likely to illicit answers to "rebut" the existing answers, while there is actually nothing to rebut, since both views are essentially valid in certain perspective.</p>

<p><sup>(By the way, I initiated the opinion-based closure in chatroom, since it triggered my detector, which was trained from participating in SO in the years before the change in close reasons. In the old system, this question would have been closed as not constructive, since it triggers debate and extended discussion, and the views are equally valid.)</sup></p>
