32
votes
Should we vote to delete wrong answers?
In my opinion, the author of incorrect answers should, when an error is pointed out, delete their answer unless (or until) it is amended. If the author feels that the error is of value to the site, it ...
- 57.9k
31
votes
Is it a good thing to erase wrong answer?
Regarding your question about keeping flawed answers: there are several reasons people delete their answers once a fundamental flaw has been pointed out:
the question will not appear in the ...
- 49.3k
20
votes
Accepted
Answer to deleted question shows as "deleted by *owner*"?
You did delete your answer 15 seconds after you posted it, and undeleted it about two and a half minutes thereafter.
For some unfathomable reason, the software shows "deleted by owner" and the ...
- 207k
20
votes
Accepted
Which question on MSE has the most failed attempts?
According to this page, here are some of the questions with the greatest number of deleted answers, and with only $0$ or $1$ answer:
Apparently, How does one prove the matrix inequality $\det\left(6(...
- 23.8k
20
votes
Accepted
Reasonable answer deleted by high reputation user
At this point, the answer is deleted unilaterally. The timeline can be seen, it was voted to be deleted, then voted to be undeleted. Then a moderator decided to delete anyway (and converted to a ...
- 13.3k
19
votes
Should we vote to delete wrong answers?
Sometimes I have posted a wrong answer. (Hard to believe, I know.) But it seemed to me that the wrong method might be considered by others, so I left the wrong answer, and added a boldface This ...
- 112k
18
votes
Accepted
I don't understand this audit.
Just to get this question off the unasnwered list, here's the explanation (thanks to YuiTo Cheng, Xander Henderson, jgon and other commenters for the help). It turns out that the poster of the answers ...
- 17.4k
17
votes
Accepted
Why only 10k+ rep users can see all the deleted questions/answers?
The site is community moderated and most tasks can be performed by users with enough points. One of these tasks is to (soft) delete posts, to review these deletions and to undo them if needed.
To ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
17
votes
Accepted
Why was this useful answer deleted?
It was flagged as not an answer and I had the impression the flag had merit; being on hold had nothing to do with it. But rethinking the decision, I had made a mistake. The answer is undeleted now.
- 32.9k
17
votes
Accepted
Does reputation change if an answer gets deleted due to deletion of original post by vote(s)?
In general, yes, points gained on answers that get deleted because the question gets deleted are lost. Following an undeletion the points are restored.
However, if your post satisfies both of:
has ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
16
votes
Accepted
I deleted my post. And now?
Moderators and users with sufficiently high reputation can see deleted posts. But the point of deleting a post is for the post to be deleted. Please don't delete a question just so you can repost it ...
- 32.9k
15
votes
Accepted
What can I do if the problem is deleted when I tried to edit my answer?
For the current case, the user that had asked the question self-deleted the question. I undid this and told the user that this should not be done. (It was a new user; some believe in error that this ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
13
votes
Accepted
A case for deleting wrong answers
Irrespective of the correctness or lack thereof of the answer, I came to the conclusion that it didn't really attempt to answer the question. I deleted it.
- 207k
13
votes
Short answer turned into a comment by moderator
This meta post is tagged "specific answer", so I'll frame my remarks accordingly.
The posting of very short "hint" answers has come up a few dozen times here, for example "Is ...
- 37k
12
votes
What would be the right answer to the question "Is this a typo in my textbook"?
Some aspects of this are similar to the issues with solution verification posts: sometimes those posts are just unanswerable.
An answer of the form
"Yes, this is an error. Well spotted."
...
- 16k
11
votes
Accepted
Getting reputation back after deleting answer
Yes, this is correct. Votes cast earlier on deleted content do not influence your reputation down the road; roughly speaking, the reputation is determined based on non-deleted content only. (There are ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
11
votes
Is there any way to see my deleted questions or answers?
EDIT: Since now (January 2022) any user can get a list of all their deleted questions (answers), this answer is no longer relevant if you want to find one of your own deleted posts. I will still leave ...
- 53.8k
11
votes
What would be the right answer to the question "Is this a typo in my textbook"?
This Answer is in addition to Arctic Char's (which I agree with). Regarding the similarities to solution-verification, there are the discussions
The problem with proof verification ,
Why do users ...
- 34.9k
11
votes
Why this my upvoted answer has been deleted by moderator with no explanation?
The answer was a duplicate of this answer. The general policy across SE is to delete duplicate answers.
DO NOT post the same answer to multiple questions. If one answer adequately addresses more ...
- 29.6k
10
votes
Accepted
Can I eliminate an answer after its deletion?
No, this is not possible. This will happen in only very severe cases (think links to child porn) and often those are redacted and not hard-deleted.
By posting content on Stack Exchange, you've agreed ...
- 3,955
9
votes
Deletion of on-topic answers only because they contain mathematical errors.
From the help-center (my emphasis):
Answers that do not fundamentally answer the question may be removed. This includes answers that are:
commentary on the question or other answers
asking another, ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
8
votes
Deleting meaningless answers?
Personally, I am not a complex analysis pro. It took me a minute to figure out why $\delta(x-i)$ was no good. If I encountered a problem like this, I may have made the same misstep. It's the type of ...
- 27k
8
votes
Why was my self-answer deleted?
I guess it was deleted because it's just an assertion without any elaboration or reasoning. Thus it's not a very good answer.
Still, the assertion does answer the question, and I think the reviewers ...
- 207k
8
votes
Deleted question/answer is visible
The main reason why deleted posts are still visible is to allow to review deletions.
If there is a very urgent need to get something deleted more definitely there are ways to do this. Flag and ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
8
votes
Is it a good thing to erase wrong answer?
When someone points out that an answer of mine is wrong I usually delete it. But if it's wrong in an interesting or useful way I edit it to say so and leave it.
Here's one example: Symmetry group ...
- 95.5k
7
votes
Reasonable answer deleted by high reputation user
There are two issues here:
The rudeness of the asker. If someone is rude to you, raise a flag, and move on. Do not engage. Just raise a flag.
The quality of your answer. The deleted answer is an ...
- 29.6k
7
votes
Locating a deleted answer to my question
I read through this deleted answer, and I must say I really do think it was generated by ChatGPT.
Take this passage, for example.
... if a Möbius transformation maps a circle or a line to another ...
- 32.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Buyer's remorse, MSE style
There is no need to do more than the regular delete that you did. In fact, there is even no effective way to do more by yourself. (I occasionally see users that edit their post into a blank post when ...
quidMod
- 42.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Why is it considered rude to use all capitals to ask/answer a question?
If you google for "internet etiquette", you will find that using all-caps is considered shouting, which means that you are trying to get more attention than others around you by being annoying. This, ...
- 2,738
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible