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Jon Ericson asked me to report this (apparent) bug.

When he tried to protect this question someone (or something) stole the question's protection, which has since been missing:

enter image description here

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The question shows no sign of having the protection removed, thus I believe it was abducted. I am sure justice will be done, and this poor question will receive the protection it deserves.

I recommend interrogating the little bird that was said to have announced this question to the world, I bet it would have some useful information.

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I tried to answer the question as a low-reputation user and found all the way at the bottom of the page:

Found on the bottom of the page.

So the banner is there; it's just not where I (or you) expected. In any case, a new user will not be able to answer the question as there's no way to enter it.

This is an intended behaviour because if you don't have enough site reputation to answer (and since association bonuses don't count, I don't even with a diamond) the banner explains why. Generally speaking, this probably makes more sense than putting it at the top of the page and confusing new or drop-in users. But for those of us who are used to seeing it upfront and know for other reasons that a question is protected, it's strange.

I have no answer for why the banner is awkwardly placed, however.

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    Ive noticed it down there on a couple of different sites for a few months. I also don't see a box to submit an answer either (I have 101 reputation)
    – FDinoff
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:14
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    The layout looks all wacky there at the bottom too. Could it make a difference that there are a metric ton of deleted answers on it?
    – Undo
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:16
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    This is intentional behaviour because the goal is to show why you can't answer the question where the answer textbox would normally be located. When you have enough rep/permissions to answer, you'll just see the "protected" banner at the top above all answers for informational purposes. That said, I agree that it's a little weird. My personal preference would be to show the banner in both locations.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:21
  • @AdamLear is it a bug then that I can't see the answer box? (I should be above the required rep)
    – FDinoff
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:22
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    @FDinoff the reputation bonus doesn't count toward the necessary 10 reputation.
    – ɥʇǝS
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:24
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    @Adam Is this a network wide change is it only on a few sites? If it's network wide you might want to add an "official" answer (or edit Jon's).
    – ɥʇǝS
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:26
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    @Jon Protected notice appears at the bottom of the page for guest users and is poorly formatted
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:28
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    @FDinoff et al: Fun fact. Not only does the association bonus not count, as an employee with a diamond, even I can't answer the question without getting 10 reputation somehow.
    – Jon Ericson Staff
    Commented Oct 21, 2013 at 3:46
  • @Jon but as diamond mod you can probably unprotect the question, post your answer and protect again. Right? :D
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 2, 2014 at 15:36
  • @Shadow Wizard: That would be cheating! ;-)
    – Jon Ericson Staff
    Commented Jan 2, 2014 at 16:01
  • lol! I think it's just an oversight, diamonds should be able to do anything, not related to rep. I started discussion once asking if mods or employees can get themselves question banned. :)
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented Jan 2, 2014 at 16:16
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    I've been wondering about the inconsistent placement of this post notice for years, both as a regular user and as a mod (having seen it at the top on RPG.SE, but finding it at the bottom on other sites where I didn't have as much rep)... I'm glad to finally have this weird, inconsistent behavior finally explained.
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented May 12, 2022 at 19:26
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    That said, I think it should be changed – Even aside from being inconsistent with the placement of every other post notice, I’ve also found it frustrating to read through a question (and potentially the other answers), decide I could post a better answer myself, and then find that I can’t do so after scrolling down… I would prefer to be told right away that I can’t answer it, before I’ve spent time reading the whole page and thinking about what I would put in an answer.
    – V2Blast Staff
    Commented May 12, 2022 at 19:26
  • @V2Blast: I think the ideal would be something like: 1. if the user has the rep to answer, show the notice at the top, 2. if the user has never answered an SO/SE question (any site), put the notice on the bottom, 3. if the users has answered questions, but doesn't have the reputation, small notice on the top and detailed notice where the answer button normally is. But detecting #3 is probably not worth the effort. I could see a small notice (or even something subtle like an icon under the title) for everyone being a reasonable compromise.
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented May 12, 2022 at 22:07

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