Those issues apart, I do feel that such things should have a finite lifetime. Closing doesn't actually have any effect whatsoever (it doesn't even stop it getting bumped to the front page). So I would ask that this now be locked and that a note be put at the bottom saying:

This poll has now run its course. The final tally can be seen below.

The wording is intended to be as neutral as possible. I'm happy for any better suggestions to be used.

(A moderator is needed to lock the post, I believe.)

On a slightly different part of the issue, I disagree with the reason for closing. "Subjective and argumentative"? Given the amount of discussion some other questions have generated, I don't think that "argumentative" is fair. "Subjective" I guess is "by design", but I'd rather that it had been closed as "off topic" meaning, "We don't want such polls here.". Also, I wish that those who closed it had come here and expressed their opinions first.

(I may well agree with such opinions, but as I said above: some people saw some merit in this question and their opinions have not been taken in to account.)

I'd also like to say that I'm not convinced of the value of this question, but there were sufficient voices in favour (with sufficient reputation) of some sort of question that it seemed worth doing the experiment in actuality rather than discussing a virtual question (which no two people would quite have agreed upon).

I certainly don't understand the "abuse of the badge system" remark. I thought that the general consensus was that the badges were so meaningless that they could safely be ignored. If you look at my questions and answers, then half of my +20 votes questions have been closed (and a fourth I tried to close but was out-voted), and you have to go down to about my 20th answer to get one that I would actually rate as having any worthwhile mathematical content (why doesn't homology have a coproduct, in case my count is off).

I don't know if this says more about me, about MO, or something else entirely, but over on tex.SX, I completely ignore the reputation and badges number. And I do that unconsciously, it's a number that has absolutely no meaning for me. I can't remember from one day to the next what my reputation there is. Here, I notice when it goes up or down, and I know before I've looked if I've had any down-votes. Again, this is unconscious. However, even though I notice my reputation here, I certainly don't notice any badges (once I'd capitulated and gotten a silver badge, that is).