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I was thinking about a simple-looking but (I think) tricky calculus/analysis question. When coming back to it, someone had pointed out that the question had a duplicate (with bounty), which I confirmed was true, but nothing even remotely contributing to a solution. Expecting that duplicates eventually are put on hold, I went back to thinking, believing I could follow the link to the duplicate as needed.

However, upon returning the question had been deleted (the second one I had used as an entry point); and not having more than 10k rep, nor remembering the title of the original question, I now would have to do some digging to hope to find the bountied version (to try to solve, or just as I'm curious what an elegant answer might be). OP of 2nd version is unlikely to have deleted it as it had a number of upvotes.

Is it correct that recommended procedure is to put duplicates on hold, or are they to be deleted?

I can see how, theoretically, someone could go hunt for interesting old questions, and re-post them hoping for some upvotes; but arguing like this is a bit paranoid in my eyes. This isn't a "request to re-open" as there's a dedicated question for it on meta; I'm just trying to understand recommended procedure (even if OP surprisingly decided to delete his own question in this case).

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duplicates eventually are put on hold

They are never put on hold. When a question is marked as a duplicate, it is marked as [duplicate]. Neither [on hold] nor [closed] will appear next to it.

Normally, marking as a duplicate is all that happens. (This prevents answers from being added, just as [on hold] and [closed] states do.) But if the author of an unanswered question (duplicate or not) decides to delete the question, it's their choice.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for clarifying. Maybe in this case, OP decided to delete despite 4+upvotes, which I still find hard to believe. $\endgroup$
    – gnometorule
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 15:32
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    $\begingroup$ @gnometorule Stranger things happen. $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Jun 27, 2014 at 15:33
  • $\begingroup$ "Normally, marking as a duplicate is all that happens." I thought that marking as a duplicate blocked posting of new answers. Did I get that wrong? $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 4:19
  • $\begingroup$ @GerryMyerson Added. $\endgroup$
    – user147263
    Commented Jun 28, 2014 at 4:25

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