Does the threshold for delete votes get recalculated?

Question

When does the calculation for delete votes happen? Is it ever recalculated? I've thought of three scenarios for how the delete vote threshold works, which is right? or is it something else? Testing it myself isn't exactly practical.

Change of threshold still requiring votes to delete

Say you've got a question that requires four delete votes to delete and has 2 currently committed. Someone comes along and downvotes the questions and answers enough that only 3 would be required. Will the next delete vote delete the question?

Change of threshold to match existing votes to delete

Say you've got a question that requires four delete votes to delete and has 3 currently committed. Someone comes along and downvotes the questions and answers enough that only three would be required. When (if at all) will this question get deleted (by the system)?

Locked in at first delete vote cast

Or... is it locked in at the time of the first delete vote being cast and nothing will cause it to budge to a lower threshold?

Answer 1

The delete threshold is calculated live based on the current score of the post. However, it only gets calculated at the time a new delete vote gets submitted. So yes, downvoting to decrease the number required and then voting to delete would delete the post (I've done this before; don't judge). Downvoting so that the current number is sufficient will not automatically delete the post, because a downvote does not trigger a deletion check - it will still require an additional vote to delete to actually delete it. Although, I'm not sure if a user who has already voted to delete can trigger the actual deletion by attempting to vote to delete again. Moderators are able to do that, at least (mainly for posts they'd previously voted to delete as a normal user).