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Why can't I delete a question with a bounty that has no answers?

It needs only 3 friends to cash the bounty by giving a nonsensical answer and adding 2 upvotes to it.

I'd rather like to lose the points in vain than risking give it to some tricksters.

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  • $\begingroup$ Is this about this question, that ends with the remark that "And, yes I AM paranoid"? Is there some rash of internet conspiracies to get undeserved bounties that I'm unaware of? $\endgroup$
    – user296602
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:21
  • $\begingroup$ Yes. dummy dots to follow to match minimal length of comments .............. $\endgroup$
    – Gyro Gearloose
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:31
  • $\begingroup$ Yes to the first, or to both? (And does it seem reasonable that at least three people would conspire for the purpose of getting 50 points?) $\endgroup$
    – user296602
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:32
  • $\begingroup$ Answer was to the first. Answer to second: this would be a cheap and obvious exploit. And to the invisible third: I've seen even worse, but can't prove it for sure (--> paranoid). $\endgroup$
    – Gyro Gearloose
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:35
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ And so this baseless paranoia was the motivation for two edits, four comments, and a post on meta? $\endgroup$
    – user296602
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:39
  • $\begingroup$ No, only for the post on meta and the latest comment. And besides my paranoia, can you dis-base the possibility? $\endgroup$
    – Gyro Gearloose
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:42
  • $\begingroup$ Is there a possibility of massive conspiracies that devote hours of their time to fraudulently claiming bounties worth the equivalent of five upvotes? No. Is it a reasonable fear, or one that has happened in the past? No. $\endgroup$
    – user296602
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:43
  • $\begingroup$ @T.Bongers I had some experiences on overflows ... now deleted by others. Bet even if not so, why would you not allow me to just delete it? $\endgroup$
    – Gyro Gearloose
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:47
  • $\begingroup$ @T.Bongers I think the first unexplained downvote was just as undeserved as the 2 sudden upvotes just after my comment to delete it. All this is wrong and should be erased. The part that includes only my question is my part as long as there is no answer (what nonsensical it ever should be), and the bounty has been lost the moment I started it. $\endgroup$
    – Gyro Gearloose
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 19:53
  • $\begingroup$ @T.Bongers and if you think the question is worth being posted, there, is no copyright on it. You are invited to ask this very text, every bit unchanged, even more with some improvements, as a question of your own. $\endgroup$
    – Gyro Gearloose
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 20:10
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    $\begingroup$ There is some irony here, unfortunately. Some users have learned how to use bounties to prevent others from closing and deleting questions; you are stuck because you want to delete your question but the bounty won't let you. It would make more sense to me to allow questions to be handled like normal, even if there is a bounty - the OP would just risk losing rep points if their question was deleted when the bounty expired. But, for whatever reason, the bounty completely blocks normal question processing until it expires. $\endgroup$
    – Carl Mummert
    Commented Feb 26, 2016 at 1:28
  • $\begingroup$ @Carl Mummert I thought the irony was that due to the "meta effect," the question probably has considerably more views than it would have otherwise, even with a bounty. Which of course means increased exposure to potential tricksters. $\endgroup$
    – pjs36
    Commented Feb 26, 2016 at 3:45

1 Answer 1

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The short answer is that if such concerns were actually realized, the OP or the person posting a bounty (if different) could ask for Moderator intervention. Deleting the Question itself doesn't really seem to be the best approach.

If there is some unusual situation, it appears that (diamond) Moderators have a menu to remove and refund bounties, allowing for a Question to be closed and/or deleted.

In this case it does not appear that anyone has tried to "cash the bounty by giving a nonsensical answer". If this should happen, the OP would be able to flag the answer for Moderator attention. The supposed nonsense Answer could then be mod-Deleted, esp. if it seemed to be some kind of bad faith arrangement among "tricksters" to game the bounty system.

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