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Multiple times now I've seen questions of mine edited by people, and all but the accepted answer removed. Just because other answers aren't accepted doesn't mean they're not useful.

I went back to try and pick out some commands I currently need from an answer to one of my questions, and someone has gone in and deleted it because it was not the accepted answer.

There's really no reason to be doing this; I use these questions as references later on.

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  • 7
    Give an example, please.
    – Shog9
    Feb 17, 2010 at 21:43
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    Deleting answers is not usual on SO. Can you show an example?
    – Pekka
    Feb 17, 2010 at 21:43
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    As it says in the FAQ - Other people can edit my stuff?! Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited, and all edits are tracked. If you are not comfortable with the idea of your questions and answers being edited by other trusted users, this may not be the site for you.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Feb 17, 2010 at 21:43
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    People sometimes remove their answers if it says essentially the same thing as another (earlier/accepted) answer, but rarely if it presents new information. Feb 17, 2010 at 21:46
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    Yeah, I often delete when someone has presented an obviously better answer. If you want to keep my answers despite them not being best just put a single upvote on it, and I most likely won't delete it. I very rarely delete a post if someone has marked it as useful.
    – Mark Byers
    Feb 17, 2010 at 21:53
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    Wondering about the upvotes... Apparently more people think alike?
    – Arjan
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:18
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    I agree, it would be a pretty extreme situation for me to want to delete an answer of mine that got upvoted. I've always wondering what the point of the Disciplined badge is.. perhaps too many people are taking that badge to mean we are supposed to delete unaccepted answers, which would be an unfortunate side effect.
    – Ether
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:36

4 Answers 4

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I've checked all your questions. Here's what I found:

  • Some of your questions were edited formatting wise, nothing was removed.

  • Answer wise, there was ONE deletion, made by the owner of the said answer, which is well within his rights to decide to withdraw his answer.

So there is no foul play here, just normal community interaction.

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If you're really worried that something useful was lost, flag the question for moderator attention. They can see all deleted posts and rollback any changes.

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bergyman, you don't have any deleted questions or answers.

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    Yeah I'm afraid I jumped the gun on this one. I saw someone had gone in and edited a question of mine that I was expecting to find an answer I needed, and then realized that answer was on a different question. I (incorrectly) assumed someone had deleted/edited/etc the answer. I feel quite the dumbass.
    – bergyman
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:13
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    @bergyman, maybe edit your question (or delete it...?) as it's no longer relevant?
    – Arjan
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:32
  • @Arjan - I can't. it's got too many votes/answers for me to whack it now..despite the fact it still shows 'delete' up there, but I think I've already seen a message on here about that one. ;)
    – bergyman
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:34
  • @Ether - Hah! Yes indeed.
    – bergyman
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:36
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No one should be doing this. It should be extremely rare that any answer is deleted. Please flag the moderator.

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    It's common for downvoted answers to get deleted by the author.
    – Sam
    Feb 17, 2010 at 22:01
  • @Sam, yes, I've deleted a few of my own when I thought they were extraneous. Feb 17, 2010 at 22:24

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