121
votes
Can we please be more generous to elementary beginners?
While I am preparing (slowly, due to lots of urgent foreground tasks) a longer post about deletion on math.se, let me quickly suggest a simple guideline:
Do not roll back improvements to a question ...
- 17.3k
61
votes
Can we please be more generous to elementary beginners?
(Posting as an answer, rather than a comment, because I'm curious how many will disagree.)
I think the "little to do with being elementary" dispute strikes at the heart of the underlying issue here.
...
- 49.5k
30
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 ...
- 56.6k
29
votes
Can we please STOP closing and deleting old posts with answers?
Thanks for saving me the time to post the exact same question. Let me just add my own examples to the list. My inclusion criterion is "contains a neat proof", which may be more liberal than yours, but ...
- 17.3k
26
votes
Accepted
Is it okay to delete unanswered, marked as duplicates questions?
It depends. Ultimately it's your decision whether you want to delete your unanswered duplicate questions - within the constraints of the software: you can't delete more than five of your own posts per ...
- 205k
23
votes
Accepted
Comment etiquette: Should one delete a comment about a minor error after correction has been made?
Delete your comment, flag any associated comments for deletion.
A toy example:
User 1: "I think there is a mistake on the third paragraph. Not every $X$ is a $Y$!"
User 2: "Sorry, I don't ...
- 33.9k
22
votes
A question quickly closed and deleted
There is a very simple reason why we should not encourage posting about open problems by plain amateurs. If we allow just one, to be consistent we would need to allow a hundred. With the recent ...
- 56.6k
21
votes
Is it no longer considered OK to post a comment of more than 600 characters as an answer?
In the spirit of the question: This started life as more of an extended comment than an answer. I think it has morphed into an answer now though.
Math.SE seems to be based around the idea that every ...
- 30.7k
20
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 ...
- 108k
19
votes
Is undelete of comments already deleted.. possible?
Moderators can undeleted comments that were not deleted by the users. Namely, if you posted a comment and you deleted it, then moderators cannot undelete it. If, on the other hands, a moderator ...
- 390k
19
votes
I don't understand the deletion of a recent question
From my experience on Math Help Boards as an admin, I'd say that such behavior is often indicative of cheating. They get help real quick, then delete the post so that their professor doesn't catch ...
- 10.1k
18
votes
Accepted
What to do with a question that is no longer relevant?
You should just delete it. There is no reason to clog up the site with questions that don't need to be answered. The localized nature of your mistake also makes it unlikely that the question will be ...
- 26.7k
18
votes
Accepted
Answer not deleted after six "Recommend Deletion"
Because the post has a positive score.
According to Shog9's answer on Is “recommend deletion” secretly a vote to delete?
Yes, a sufficient number of delete recommendations (currently 6 on most sites, ...
- 136
17
votes
Should I remove a link if given an external request?
Well, since your question has multiple answers (and upvoted answers, and even an accepted answer) you cannot delete it yourself. Since it is closed 10K+ users can vote to delete it, although presently ...
- 51.8k
17
votes
Can we please be more generous to elementary beginners?
I have a great deal of sympathy with the general point being made here. I could say a lot - the challenge of maintaining quality whilst genuinely welcoming new contributors to the site is a tough one.
...
- 99.4k
17
votes
Why was this duplicate question deleted?
I've had calc students make the $e^{x^2}=e^{2x}$ mistake before, as non-associativity of exponentiation does not come up very often in lower level coursework. Beings that $\int e^{x^2}$ is often ...
- 26.7k
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 ...
- 32.3k
16
votes
What are the merits, if there is any, of deleting (correctly) answered questions in the main site of MSE?
Deletion sends a rather clear message that the content is not welcome. To send this message is a merit of deletion. By contrast to put on hold/close yet not delete does not achieve much especially for ...
quidMod
- 41.9k
16
votes
Self-deleted answer undeleted by other users
If a question gets undeleted, the user who posted gets no notification about that undeletion. But you also get no notification if an answer of yours gets deleted. The only thing that happens (as you ...
- 423k
15
votes
Is deletion of unnecessary comments a common practice here?
It is good practice to delete one's comments that are not relevant anymore. For comments by others that are not relevant anymore you can flag them as "obsolete," which will usually result in eventual ...
quidMod
- 41.9k
15
votes
Accepted
Why community in SE deleted my comment related to the below duplicate question?
I am sorry for the frustration, but it is of nobody's doing, specifically.
The automatic comment posted upon a vote to close as a duplicate or also a flag as duplicate, the current case, gets ...
quidMod
- 41.9k
14
votes
Accepted
Deleting questions with upvotes, or with upvoted answers.
You say that:
Sometimes poorly formulated questions contain enough information to both answer them, but more important to find them interesting enough for the community. [...] [P]eople vote to close ...
quidMod
- 41.9k
14
votes
Self-Answer, or Delete my Question?
I disagree that this is only a simple yes/no question. Well the ultimate answer is either yes or no, but you do need justifications. Think, for example, if some user posted another answer saying
&...
- 15.6k
13
votes
Accepted
How was this question deleted?
The answers were both deleted by their authors before the question was deleted. Answers that are deleted when the question author tries to delete the question don't hinder it.
- 205k
13
votes
Can we please be more generous to elementary beginners?
I feel that the title of this thread is misguided. I see no evidence of this being about the elementary beginner. The asker of your example question has not been seen on the site since March 30th. ...
- 131k
13
votes
Can we please STOP closing and deleting old posts with answers?
As quid already remarked on the closure aspect of this meta question, let me address deletion (being aware that this might not make the answer popular):
The further strong action of deletion mostly,...
- 17.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible