0

I just got an answer posted as the exact same time that a question was closed and my answer has been, two minutes later, deleted.

However by reading here:

Answers to the closed questions

it is my understanding that answers that were written before the question got closed should still be posted because:

This has always been by design. The reason has always been stated as making it so the answerer does not lose their work.

And it gets more confusing...

After the deletion of my answer, I got a link saying: "Why was your post deleted?" that brings to the FAQ which states:

Answers that do not fundamentally answer the question may be removed.

However my answer did fundamentally answer the question.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10019935/sum-of-digitsanother-challenge

If the question is off-topic and must me migrated or closed, the person posting an answer to that question before the migration/closing happens is not necessarily the judge on this.

So should correct answers to closed questions be deleted? This behavior seems to contradict the answers to the other meta question I linked to above.

I understand this may be the case, but then shouldn't the FAQ state that there are cases where correct answers may be deleted too?

Note that I don't care about the deletion: I notice a link to a FAQ that was supposed to explain why my answer was deleted ("Why was your post deleted? See the faq.").

And then I went and read the FAQ that says that answer which do not fundamentally answer the question may be removed.

Yet the answer did fundamentally answer the question.

And then I see here on meta that, by design, I should have been allowed to post my correct answer.

So which one is it?

If I shouldn't have lost my answer, could someone please undelete it?

Improve this question
7
  • btw I do have 2.5k rep on SO where I do help people but this is my first post here... I'm not sure about the 'discussion' tag, maybe 'support' would have been better?
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 22:45
  • Ah, if you're new to meta, be aware that voting works differently on meta. :)
    – sarnold
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:05
  • @sarnold: I know... But I think I'm making my point very clear. I'm posting a link to another meta question here specifically explaining why my answer should not have been deleted. That the OP's question on SO was off-topic and was going to be closed (I was thinking it would be migrated) is not my problem as someone participating in SO by answering. The link I gave here on meta specifically states that my answer should not have been lost. So I don't think I'm seeing too many things here ; )
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:11
  • 1
    it seems you like code-golfing, great community is awaiting -> codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions
    – ajax333221
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:23
  • @ajax333221: I think you're totally missing the point. It's not about code-golfing or not... meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4683 makes it clear that answers written before a post is getting closed should not be deleted. This can potentially happen with any question I'm answering. Look my SO rep: 2.5k rep by only helping people. I simply don't want to spend time answering and then have my answer deleted when the answer is correct. I'm not discussing the close. I'm discussing the deletion of a valid answer, which contradicts: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4683
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:30
  • @TacticalCoder my comment was kind of offtopic, I actually didn't read your question completely, just as soon I saw something of code-golfing, I looked your profile and saw that you haven't signed for code-golf and I just pointed it out. I was just trying to help you discover an amazing community :(. Sorry if I made it look like it was a reply 100% on topic trying to make a point or something
    – ajax333221
    Commented Apr 5, 2012 at 1:13
  • @ajax: Of course it wasn't meant to be an official reply or 100% on topic. That's why you posted it as a comment. I'm not sure what's wrong with Mr. Coder. He seems to be quite frustrated at the lack of agreement he's experienced so far with his "point". If it were really all about him helping people (as he keeps claiming that his reputation on SO demonstrates), then he should be quite thankful for your turning him onto a new community of people whom he can help.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Apr 5, 2012 at 2:00

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

Your answer was deleted because it was inappropriate for Stack Overflow.
For the benefit of the non-10ks:

Is this a code golf? If so I think it should be migrated.

Here's my take (it's late that said):

int sum = 0;
for ( final char c: ("" + (1L << 50)).toCharArray() ) {
   sum += (c - '0');
}
System.out.println("sum is: " + sum);

You posted a code golf attempt, but code golf challenges are not considered on-topic for Stack Overflow. In particular, they're not real questions, which is precisely why that one got closed.

Considering that the moderator who deleted your answer was not involved in closing the question, he probably performed the deletion in response to one or more flags raised by other users who thought your answer was useless, not an answer to the question, and/or contributing nothing of value to the site.

It might have been worth migrating...if the question were worth migrating.

Improve this answer
7
  • "You posted a code golf attempt, but code golf challenges are not considered on-topic for SO"... It's not an attempt: it's a four-liner solving what OP did in 15 lines of code. The answer is correct. The other meta question I linked to specifically states that answers posted before question is closed (or written while the question is getting closed) should not be deleted. I don't dispute the closing of the code-golf question. I'm saying that either my answer should not have been lost according to both the FAQ (and the other meta question) or the FAQ needs rewording.
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:07
  • "code golf challenges are not considered on-topic for SO"... That explain why the question got closed. Not why my answer got deleted...
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:08
  • @Tac: Yes, that's what "attempt" means. A possible solution. It's irrelevant whether your code is better than the original code, or whether it works to solve the problem. That's still an "attempt". Moreover, the whole game of code golf implies that someone could come along with a 26 character snippet of C++ code that solves the same problem, thus besting you. It's all silly and pointless. For more information on why your answer was deleted, read the rest of my answer here.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:09
  • 1
    Also note that the goal of the FAQ is not to exhaustively specify every possible scenario. An answer will also be deleted if it contains pornography, but there's no reason to add that to the FAQ. The absence of an explicit prohibition in the FAQ is not an argument for why an answer should not be deleted.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:11
  • OP's question specifically asked for other alternatives. I did answer. OP's question warranted closing, I don't dispute it now that it got closed. But I wrote a correct answer before it got closed and the answer here specifically states that correct answers written to question before they are close shouldn't get closed: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4683 If someone closed it because he thought it didn't answer OP's question, then that person is wrong. With shouldn't every single answer to questions closed as "not a real question" be deleted?
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:18
  • just to be perfectly clear: I don't mind OP's question to be entirely deleted and disappear from SO (and hence my answer too). But as I understand: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4683 my answer itself shouldn't have been deleted...
    – TacticalCoder
    Commented Apr 4, 2012 at 23:19
  • So you found an answer on Meta that is or appears to be wrong, in that it does not mirror the reality that you've experienced. Big shocker. That does happen. The answer wasn't posted by a member of the Stack Exchange team, or even a moderator. As such, it doesn't constitute an "official" opinion. But perhaps one could argue it's demonstrably true by virtue of consensus. It would be rather ironic, however, if you were to argue that, seeing as how that answer has 2 upvotes and mine here has 2 upvotes. Which one should you therefore believe? Might I also add that answer is over 2 years old?
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Apr 5, 2012 at 1:59

You must log in to answer this question.

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