# If my question about proof-verification is nonsense, should I then delete it?

Here I've asked the community to verify if my alternative proof is valid, but I now see (with the help of Siméon) that it is nonsense. This question may clutter the site, so I was wondering if I should delete it?

• If there are no answers or anything of value then yes. However this is purely your choice. – Ali Caglayan Aug 30 '14 at 12:15
• @Alizter, ok, thanks. I've deleted it, because I did not see any benefit in keeping it. – Hunter Aug 30 '14 at 12:24

If you feel that your post is erroneous and you feel that it does not contribute to anything and you see it as dead weight then deleting it is fine.

• Even more, if you feel that any post of yours does not contribute anything and is dead weight, then deleting it is recommended. :) – apnorton Aug 30 '14 at 19:04
• @anorton: I tend to agree, but one might want to be cautious to avoid being suspended (speaking from experience). Here's a related question on this, including part of the generic message that may be sent: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/260298/…. "Too much" deletion can include 13 posts out of 1140 over 3 days. – Jonas Meyer Sep 1 '14 at 18:12
• @JonasMeyer The key point there was 13 posts in 3 days (does not matter of how many). The system already hard-limits self-deletions to 5 posts per day. An attempt to delete 6th raises mod flag, with warning and mod-undeletion likely. (You can guess how I know this :) -- probably the same way as you.) I can see why someone deleting 13 posts in 3 days could be considered (by an algorithm) as a vandalizing rage-quitter. – user147263 Sep 1 '14 at 19:13
• @Thursday: Thank you. Not surprised that it doesn't matter to the algorithm of how many, but would hope it is significant to the humans facilitating between algorithm and users. Your first comment does clarify some things for me. – Jonas Meyer Sep 1 '14 at 19:46
• @JonasMeyer On the brighter side, you can delete others' posts to your heart's content. There is a bit of backlog in the department of questions with two delete votes. – user147263 Sep 2 '14 at 7:06

I disagree that you should delete the question. It is a perfectly fine question, and, as with any proof-verification question, there is a chance that someone will learn from your incorrect proof or will come up with the same proof. Errors are a wonderful way of learning!

Deleting your question serves noone, but leaving it up at least allows it the possibility of being useful.

A slightly different, (meta-)argument is as follows: The proof verification tag exists, hence it must have a use. However, post of the form

Q: Is my proof correct? A: Yes.

are just noise - unless the proof is very elegant, noone cares. Noone else will learn anything. Instead, posts of the form

Q: Is my proof correct? A: No, because...A way to fix this would be...

are great. People may learn from your errors! Hence, posts of your form are good, and are a justification for the proof-verification tag.

• Interesting answer; the problem is that as far I can judge, the answer is impossible to be useful for anybody else, and it will just be clutter. But on the other hand, who am I to judge this? (In that sense, I shouldn't even have the power to delete my own questions.) I will need to think a bit more to decide if I should undelete it again. – Hunter Aug 30 '14 at 20:10
• Filtered content is more valuable than unfiltered. Keeping everything that might be useful seems harmless at first, but leads to loss of productivity in longer term. – user147263 Aug 30 '14 at 22:14
• @Thursday I have updated my answer. Basically, if you think that the proof-verifcation tag should exist then it exists precisely for these types of question. An alternative (related) comeback would be to say that this tag works nicely as a filter, which should appease your lazy nature :-) – user1729 Sep 1 '14 at 8:29
• +1 for only "Errors are a wonderful way of learning!". – user132181 Sep 4 '14 at 12:18

When you yourself realized the source or basis of your error after posting was wrong (fair enough, no one is above error, errors are in fact paths to progress.. even at times culminating into full success), honestly state how the error arose. Give notice that you intend to delete it after a week or so. That way it halts further time waste of those who may have taken your question too seriously and delved into the deep for further investigations. Truth is fair to all, including yourself.