[wtbob]

I think a more properly-REST approach would be to PUT a representation of the resource with the action applied. That is, rather than POSTing to /resources/:id/close, one would PUT a closed version of the resource to /resources/:id.

[naasking]

I don't see why that would be more REST. POST is to be used for side-effecting operations, PUT is an optimization over POST for idempotent effectful operations.

Certainly a PUT solution might have some advantages for replayability in case of network partitions, but REST doesn't this choice dictate one way or the other.