Scott

The answer seems pretty simple to me, that is if Zendesk would do this question due diligence.  Just have an option to now allow tickets to be re-opened by anyone but an agent.  Once closed, closed for good and only can be re-opened by an agent.  Also have a response sent to the customer, editable at best, but at least "you've attempted to re-open a closed ticket...." etc etc.

Done, fixed, time to move on.  Now, will Zendesk respond by adding this feature?