7

I am proposing that in some circumstances a rejected migration should not be automatically deleted from the destination site.

In the case where all of the following are true:

  • The question has a score of 0 or higher, counting only votes cast on the destination site, and
  • The question received at least one answer, and
  • At least one answer has a score of 0 or higher, and
  • An answer was accepted, and
  • The question was closed more than 14 days after it was answered

then the migrated Q&A may have some value and should not be automatically deleted from the destination site.

This describes an edge case for which an example is available. While this took place on Server Fault, I believe it is applicable to all Stack Exchange sites.

It may be wise to add additional restrictions to this. For instance, in this example case the question was answered and accepted almost immediately, but was closed a full month after its migration.

It may also be wise to tweak the requirements a bit, for instance by requiring an answer to have a vote count of 1 or higher.

My primary concern here is that, when a question posted on a site is closed, it may still be reopened later. If the question has not been downvoted and has an accepted answer, it almost certainly has enough value to not be deleted. However, migrated questions which are rejected are treated much more harshly, even though the value of the content is the same as if it were posted to the destination site in the first place. We are losing some value by automatically deleting some of these questions.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

My primary concern here is that, when a question posted on a site is closed, it may still be reopened later.

Rejected migrations are automatically locked the moment they are closed, they can't be voted on (up/down/re-open/delete) unless a moderator manually unlocks them.

They are not deleted automatically. That leaves indefinite time for someone to spot that a question has at least some value, and ask a moderator to unlock it, or contest the closure on Meta. Don't you think?

Improve this answer
3
  • That probably would be enough time, except that in this case the question was closed a month after its migration, and then auto-deleted almost immediately afterward. There wasn't really enough time to notice this beforehand.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 2:02
  • @MichaelHampton I'd classify that as a bug, one that has annoyed me in the past (and never got around to rant on Meta about it). The "The question was closed more than 14 days after it was answered" point you just added to the question covers this nicely I think, but it will be quite problematic on ProgSE, where we still have a ton of open crap around that were migrated from SO in our early days (we've kill most, but still not all of them)... Generally speaking though, I think some consideration for when the question was closed is essential for rejected migrations.
    – yannis
    Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 2:09
  • Yeah, I knew after I read your answer that I hadn't been explicit enough about the details of this particular edge case.
    – Michael Hampton
    Commented Oct 8, 2012 at 2:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .