2
$\begingroup$

I cast an undelete vote for this question but was auto-informed that the question could not be undeleted, since it was deleted by a moderator. Looking at the folks who deleted it, I did notice quid on the list who is, of course, currently a moderator. However, the question was deleted in 2016 when quid was not yet a moderator.

Question: Should votes on deletion cast by a current moderator but prior to the time when that user was a moderator receive this special level of deference?

My feeling is that the answer is no. In fact, I would go further. Deletion by moderators should generally be reserved for obvious situations like spam or profanity while borderline cases should be left to the community. The post in question had received a score of 64, 15 answers, and 7 votes for undeletion so it might actually fall outside the purview of moderation.

$\endgroup$
12
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I'll just add that actions other than deletion (undeleting, closing, reopening) can be undone by regular users even if they are done by a mod - at least according to the answer here: Which actions by moderators cannot be reversed by community? $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    May 8, 2018 at 15:30
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ The bug you've noticed has been reported also on Meta Stack Exchange, the question is currently at score 115: Deletion votes from users who later became moderators shouldn't prevent community undeletion. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    May 8, 2018 at 15:32
  • $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Thanks for the observations! That Meta question is at 116 now. :) $\endgroup$
    – Mark McClure
    May 8, 2018 at 15:34
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ As there were many undeletion votes that were prevented from going through due to (what I consider to be) a bug, I went ahead and undeleted that post. [I note that I have essentially no opinion on that post as good or bad content for the community itself]. $\endgroup$
    – davidlowryduda Mod
    May 8, 2018 at 15:53
  • $\begingroup$ @mixedmath Thanks. My motivation, though, generally surrounds deletion of content with lots of upvotes, rather than that particular question. Indeed, I found that question by playing with one of the data queries that Martin recently posted. One can find quite a lot of such questions deleted by quid prior to his election as moderator - questions that have a lot of upvotes. $\endgroup$
    – Mark McClure
    May 8, 2018 at 16:09
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Since I am still of the opinion that the question is to be deleted, I deleted it anew. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    May 8, 2018 at 17:11
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ Your meta post mixes two rather unrelated things. That earlier votes become binding upon election is indeed a bit unusual (this was discussed around the penultimate election). I disagree with the "I would go further" and I said in my campaign that I intend to continue to vote. The should be left to the community, is empty rhetoric. Three to ten users with many points are not "the community". Since delete votes can be recast there is not even a process that could converge. Either way, I think you should focus your question on one of the two points (or ask two questions). $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    May 8, 2018 at 17:20
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @mixedmath your comment seems misleading to me. The question would have needed 10 undelete votes. The pending votes cast before my election, did not go through quite simply because there were not enough of them. How many users later tried to cast votes but could not, we cannot know. But I somewhat doubt it were all that many. For now we know one example. $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    May 8, 2018 at 17:35
  • $\begingroup$ @quid Oh dear, you're right. Now I've gone and sullied the history as well. I must admit I acted quickly without thinking much of it. $\endgroup$
    – davidlowryduda Mod
    May 8, 2018 at 18:02
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @mixedmath Thanks for the reply. No problem. In any case I agree it was justified to "unblock" the situation, especially, as you explicitly expressed your indifference regarding the substance of the specific post. In the end I think it may be ideal this way. [I also think it would have been justified if you had mod-undeleted as a "call" on the specific post, in which case I'd have refrained from the instant re-delete.] $\endgroup$
    – quid Mod
    May 8, 2018 at 18:09
  • $\begingroup$ This is also tangential to the main issue (or issues, as quid noted). But maybe it is worth mentioning that the linked question was discussed on meta: How could the “Properties of 2015” question be on-topic? And there was a similar question for 2017, which caused quite a heated debate - it seems that now the comments are mostly cleaned-up and moved to chat. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    May 12, 2018 at 5:51
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I have just noticed this among the related questions in the sidebar: Deletion votes retroactively become irreversible when a user becomes a moderator $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    May 14, 2018 at 5:09

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .