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Given the following scenarios, what would happen?

  1. User Alice posts an answer.
  2. User Bob comments on the answer.
  3. User Charlie♦ comments on the answer and deletes it.
  4. User Alice checks her inbox a few hours later. What will Alice see?

Also:

  1. User Alice posts an answer.
  2. User Bob comments on the answer.
  3. Users Charlie, Dorothy and Ed delete Alice's answer.
  4. User Alice checks her inbox a few hours later. What will Alice see?

Are there any specific rules about notifications on deleted message? Will mod♦ comments reach? Will normal users'? Moderators and comment on deleted messages. Will those comments reach the user's notification inbox?

How do notifications on deleted posts work?

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  • 1
    In case it wasn't clear, I'm not referring to delete comments, but deleted questions or answers
    – Madara's Ghost
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 13:21
  • I have experienced comments being deleted after being sent, so I'd guess the first two lines of these comments may be displayed in inboxes before caches are updated (and in emails sent).
    – Mark Hurd
    Commented May 16, 2014 at 6:36

1 Answer 1

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When an answer is deleted, only comment notifications to the OP left by the deleting moderator within that last hour will remain in the inbox.

So, in your first scenario, Alice will only see the comment by Charlie♦ (assuming he deleted within an hour of posting the comment and that the comment was for Alice).

In the second scenario, Alice will see no comments.

Since notifications are cleared after the answer was deleted, commenting on a deleted answer would indeed keep the notification, which is reasonable as only moderators can comment on deleted posts and users can see their own deleted posts.

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  • I got in this answer from comments in my question When a user gets a post deleted by a moderator, does he still get notifications on the comments left on it during his absence?. I still have some questions, though :) When you mention he deleted within an hour of posting the comment, does this mean that the user will get the notification no matter when he enters the site? That is, the only limit is the comment being posted <1 hour after the post was deleted. Also: do they also get notifications on comments posted after the post was deleted?
    – fedorqui 'SO stop harming'
    Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 18:00
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    Yes to both questions.
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 18:21
  • Many thanks, now it is almost all clear. Last thing is: in this question I left a comment, but I did not see it in the OP's responses tab. From your answer I assume he at least got the notification, is it right? So it shows in a notification but it is not recoverable through the "responses" tab.
    – fedorqui 'SO stop harming'
    Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 18:58
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    He certainly should have. If it was on a deleted post it won't show on the responses tab, IIRC.
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Sep 17, 2016 at 19:53
  • In the second scenario, Alice will get a notification that her answer was deleted and be able to see Bob’s comment under her answer, right?
    – Wrzlprmft
    Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 12:24
  • @Wrzlprmft - as far as I know, we don't notify users that their posts have been deleted. Not sure what you mean.
    – Oded StaffMod
    Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 12:26
  • @Oded: I think I got a notification the last time a post of mine was deleted, but I may very well be wrong as this was years ago and I also got a reputation-change notification at the same time.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 12:37
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    Can you clarify the part of the answer below the horizontal rule: does this mean that mod comments after a post has been deleted will reach the inbox regardless of how long after the delete, or does the 1 hour window still apply in that case? I had thought there was a 1 hour window for mod comments that applied whether left before or after the delete, but this answer makes me wonder if I've misunderstood other MSE answers on this point.
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 16:41
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    I think the answer is saying that comments left by a mod within an hour before deleting the answer will generate a notification, and any comments by the mod after deleting the answer will also (always?) generate a notification.
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 6, 2020 at 23:57
  • @V2Blast This answer: “only moderator comments within the last hour” seems to contradict the information given in the top-voted, accepted answer to a 2012 [status-completed] post: Treat comments on deleted posts from moderating users like comments from diamond moderators and this 2017 post: Are users notified when a moderator comments on a post that is deleted?, “all comments are deleted from the inbox after the post is deleted”. Do you know which one is accurate?
    – galacticninja
    Commented Jul 5, 2023 at 1:54

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