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Just because an answer has a score of -1 or less doesn't always mean its wrong (or at least not entirely wrong). Sometimes an answer is misunderstood. Sometimes it has spelling/grammar/wording/formatting errors that can be fixed. Sometimes it is mostly correct but has one or two little mistakes that need to be fixed. All of these are issues that can be fixed either through good comments and/or edits to change the answer into something worth upvoting. If it's deleted, doing so is not possible.

Sometimes the users judging the answer are just wrong. Perhaps the answer is controversial, innovative, or not interpreted properly by the readers and downvoted despite it's correctness. While this isn't a common occurrence, deleting such an answer has a very high "cost" to the value of the site.

Leaving an answer that is just wrong on the site with a lot of downvotes, but not deleted, does not have a high "cost". It's clear to anyone coming to the site to look for an answer that the community feels that this answer is wrong, harmful, of low quality, or for some other reason shouldn't be acted on. Even for users not familiar with the site, the UI is very good at conveying that information to people. Combined with (one would hope) comments to further explain what the problem(s) are, readers can recognize that they shouldn't use that answer unless they know something the other readers don't, and even then such an answer should be used with much caution. (An example of this is that sometimes an answer is downvoted because the answerer misunderstood the question. The answer isn't wrong, it just doesn't answer the proper question. If a reader doesn't have the same question as the OP, but instead the question this answer answers, it can be useful for them.)

As others have said here, there is value to be had in keep around answers, even when they're just wrong. It shows you what not to do, and such answers also frequently have a lot of value in their comments in which users often explain why the answer is wrong and shouldn't be used.

Sometimes an answer has one or more mistakes or aspects of it that are wrong, but it still contains some information that's correct and valuable. Perhaps the approach isn't flawed, just the specific implementation and another person may come along, get an idea from that approach, and come up with a good implementation of it. Or, perhaps there is code that is fine but a poor explanation, or a good explanation but a poor example code snippet. The point is that some of the answer can be worthwhile (at least enough to not delete it), even if the entirety of it isn't.

Just because an answer has a score of -1 or less doesn't always mean it's wrong (or at least not entirely wrong). Sometimes an answer is misunderstood. Sometimes it has spelling/grammar/wording/formatting errors that can be fixed. Sometimes it is mostly correct but has one or two little mistakes that need to be fixed. All of these are issues that can be fixed either through good comments and/or edits to change the answer into something worth upvoting. If it's deleted, doing so is not possible.

Sometimes the users judging the answer are just wrong. Perhaps the answer is controversial, innovative, or not interpreted properly by the readers and downvoted despite it's correctness. While this isn't a common occurrence, deleting such an answer has a very high "cost" to the value of the site.

Leaving an answer that is just wrong on the site with a lot of downvotes, but not deleted, does not have a high "cost". It's clear to anyone coming to the site to look for an answer that the community feels that this answer is wrong, harmful, of low quality, or for some other reason shouldn't be acted on. Even for users not familiar with the site, the UI is very good at conveying that information to people. Combined with (one would hope) comments to further explain what the problem(s) are, readers can recognize that they shouldn't use that answer unless they know something the other readers don't, and even then such an answer should be used with much caution. (An example of this is that sometimes an answer is downvoted because the answerer misunderstood the question. The answer isn't wrong, it just doesn't answer the proper question. If a reader doesn't have the same question as the OP, but instead the question this answer answers, it can be useful for them.)

As others have said here, there is value to be had in keep around answers, even when they're just wrong. It shows you what not to do, and such answers also frequently have a lot of value in their comments in which users often explain why the answer is wrong and shouldn't be used.

Sometimes an answer has one or more mistakes or aspects of it that are wrong, but it still contains some information that's correct and valuable. Perhaps the approach isn't flawed, just the specific implementation and another person may come along, get an idea from that approach, and come up with a good implementation of it. Or, perhaps there is code that is fine but a poor explanation, or a good explanation but a poor example code snippet. The point is that some of the answer can be worthwhile (at least enough to not delete it), even if the entirety of it isn't.

Just because an answer has a score of -1 or less doesn't always mean its wrong (or at least not entirely wrong. Sometimes an answer is misunderstood. Sometimes it has spelling/grammar/wording/formatting errors that can be fixed. Sometimes it is mostly correct but has one or two little mistakes that need to be fixed. All of these are issues that can be fixed either through good comments and/or edits to change the answer into something worth upvoting. If it's deleted, doing so is not possible.

Sometimes the users judging the answer are just wrong. Perhaps the answer is controversial, innovative, or not interpreted properly by the readers and downvoted despite it's correctness. While this isn't a common occurrence, deleting such an answer has a very high "cost" to the value of the site.

Leaving an answer that is just wrong on the site with a lot of downvotes, but not deleted, does not have a high "cost". It's clear to anyone coming to the site to look for an answer that the community feels that this answer is wrong, harmful, of low quality, or for some other reason shouldn't be acted on. Even for users not familiar with the site, the UI is very good at conveying that information to people. Combined with (one would hope) comments to further explain what the problem(s) are, readers can recognize that they shouldn't use that answer unless they know something the other readers don't, and even then such an answer should be used with much caution. (An example of this is that sometimes an answer is downvoted because the answerer misunderstood the question. The answer isn't wrong, it just doesn't answer the proper question. If a reader doesn't have the same question as the OP, but instead the question this answer answers, it can be useful for them.)

As others have said here, there is value to be had in keep around answers, even when they're just wrong. It shows you what not to do, and such answers also frequently have a lot of value in their comments in which users often explain why the answer is wrong and shouldn't be used.

Sometimes an answer has one or more mistakes or aspects of it that are wrong, but it still contains some information that's correct and valuable. Perhaps the approach isn't flawed, just the specific implementation and another person may come along, get an idea from that approach, and come up with a good implementation of it. Or, perhaps there is code that is fine but a poor explanation, or a good explanation but a poor example code snippet. The point is that some of the answer can be worthwhile (at least enough to not delete it), even if the entirety of it isn't.

Just because an answer has a score of -1 or less doesn't always mean its wrong (or at least not entirely wrong). Sometimes an answer is misunderstood. Sometimes it has spelling/grammar/wording/formatting errors that can be fixed. Sometimes it is mostly correct but has one or two little mistakes that need to be fixed. All of these are issues that can be fixed either through good comments and/or edits to change the answer into something worth upvoting. If it's deleted, doing so is not possible.

Sometimes the users judging the answer are just wrong. Perhaps the answer is controversial, innovative, or not interpreted properly by the readers and downvoted despite it's correctness. While this isn't a common occurrence, deleting such an answer has a very high "cost" to the value of the site.

Leaving an answer that is just wrong on the site with a lot of downvotes, but not deleted, does not have a high "cost". It's clear to anyone coming to the site to look for an answer that the community feels that this answer is wrong, harmful, of low quality, or for some other reason shouldn't be acted on. Even for users not familiar with the site, the UI is very good at conveying that information to people. Combined with (one would hope) comments to further explain what the problem(s) are, readers can recognize that they shouldn't use that answer unless they know something the other readers don't, and even then such an answer should be used with much caution. (An example of this is that sometimes an answer is downvoted because the answerer misunderstood the question. The answer isn't wrong, it just doesn't answer the proper question. If a reader doesn't have the same question as the OP, but instead the question this answer answers, it can be useful for them.)

As others have said here, there is value to be had in keep around answers, even when they're just wrong. It shows you what not to do, and such answers also frequently have a lot of value in their comments in which users often explain why the answer is wrong and shouldn't be used.

Sometimes an answer has one or more mistakes or aspects of it that are wrong, but it still contains some information that's correct and valuable. Perhaps the approach isn't flawed, just the specific implementation and another person may come along, get an idea from that approach, and come up with a good implementation of it. Or, perhaps there is code that is fine but a poor explanation, or a good explanation but a poor example code snippet. The point is that some of the answer can be worthwhile (at least enough to not delete it), even if the entirety of it isn't.

Just because an answer has a score of -1 or less doesn't always mean its wrong (or at least not entirely wrong. Sometimes an answer is misunderstood. Sometimes it has spelling/grammar/wording/formatting errors that can be fixed. Sometimes it is mostly correct but has one or two little mistakes that need to be fixed. All of these are issues that can be fixed either through good comments and/or edits to change the answer into something worth upvoting. If it's deleted, doing so is not possible.

Sometimes the users judging the answer are just wrong. Perhaps the answer is controversial, innovative, or not interpreted properly by the readers and downvoted despite it's correctness. While this isn't a common occurrence, deleting such an answer has a very high "cost" to the value of the site.

Leaving an answer that is just wrong on the site with a lot of downvotes, but not deleted, does not have a high "cost". It's clear to anyone coming to the site to look for an answer that the community feels that this answer is wrong, harmful, of low quality, or for some other reason shouldn't be acted on. Even for users not familiar with the site, the UI is very good at conveying that information to people through it's UI. Combined with (one would hope) comments to further explain what the problem(s) are, readers can recognize that they shouldn't use that answer unless they know something the other readers don't, and even then such an answer should be used with much caution. (An example of this is that sometimes an answer is downvoted because the answerer misunderstood the question. The answer isn't wrong, it just doesn't answer the proper question. If a reader doesn't have the same question as the OP, but instead the question this answer answers, it can be useful for them.)

As others have said here, there is value to be had in keep around answers, even when they're just wrong. It shows you what not to do, and such answers also frequently have a lot of value in their comments in which users often explain why the answer is wrong and shouldn't be used.

Sometimes an answer has one or more mistakes or aspects of it that are wrong, but it still contains some information that's correct and valuable. Perhaps the approach isn't flawed, just the specific implementation and another person may come along, get an idea from that approach, and come up with a good implementation of it. Or, perhaps there is code that is fine but a poor explanation, or a good explanation but a poor example code snippet. The point is that some of the answer can be worthwhile (at least enough to not delete it), even if the entirety of it isn't.

Just because an answer has a score of -1 or less doesn't always mean its wrong (or at least not entirely wrong. Sometimes an answer is misunderstood. Sometimes it has spelling/grammar/wording/formatting errors that can be fixed. Sometimes it is mostly correct but has one or two little mistakes that need to be fixed. All of these are issues that can be fixed either through good comments and/or edits to change the answer into something worth upvoting. If it's deleted, doing so is not possible.

Sometimes the users judging the answer are just wrong. Perhaps the answer is controversial, innovative, or not interpreted properly by the readers and downvoted despite it's correctness. While this isn't a common occurrence, deleting such an answer has a very high "cost" to the value of the site.

Leaving an answer that is just wrong on the site with a lot of downvotes, but not deleted, does not have a high "cost". It's clear to anyone coming to the site to look for an answer that the community feels that this answer is wrong, harmful, of low quality, or for some other reason shouldn't be acted on. Even for users not familiar with the site, the UI is very good at conveying that information to people. Combined with (one would hope) comments to further explain what the problem(s) are, readers can recognize that they shouldn't use that answer unless they know something the other readers don't, and even then such an answer should be used with much caution. (An example of this is that sometimes an answer is downvoted because the answerer misunderstood the question. The answer isn't wrong, it just doesn't answer the proper question. If a reader doesn't have the same question as the OP, but instead the question this answer answers, it can be useful for them.)

As others have said here, there is value to be had in keep around answers, even when they're just wrong. It shows you what not to do, and such answers also frequently have a lot of value in their comments in which users often explain why the answer is wrong and shouldn't be used.

Sometimes an answer has one or more mistakes or aspects of it that are wrong, but it still contains some information that's correct and valuable. Perhaps the approach isn't flawed, just the specific implementation and another person may come along, get an idea from that approach, and come up with a good implementation of it. Or, perhaps there is code that is fine but a poor explanation, or a good explanation but a poor example code snippet. The point is that some of the answer can be worthwhile (at least enough to not delete it), even if the entirety of it isn't.