17

Note: this is not a request to hide deleted answers (which has been requested in the past).

The answer count under a question currently has code that tracks which answers are deleted and which answers are not. I know this because when you have less than 10,000 reputation on a site, you cannot see deleted answers, and the answer count is equal to the number of undeleted answers. Meanwhile, for users with at least 10,000 reputation, deleted answers are visible, and the answer count is equal to the total number of answers, regardless of their deletion status. There are other indicators as well1.

This request is to simply display both numbers in some fashion for 10k users. I know there are probably user scripts or Stack Apps that do this, but I would like to see it added to the site natively.

Being able to see deleted answers is good for users with moderation tools, but it's rather annoying to click on an additional answer page only to find that the entire page is deleted answers, among other issues.

As an example of what this could look like, this Stack Overflow question currently has 60 answers, 18 of which are deleted. One (probably the best) implementation of this request would change this:

Default answer count showing the total number of answers as one value

To this:

Proposed alternative displaying the total number of answers followed by the number of deleted answers in parentheses

Or, alternatively, to something like this:

Another proposed alternative displaying the total number of undeleted answers followed by the number of deleted answers in parentheses

I think I prefer the first option due to its brevity.

1: (Even for 10k+ users, the undeleted answer count is what is shown on the /questions page):

enter image description here

6
  • 1
    Where it says "42 Undeleted Answers(18 Deleted)" maybe it would be better "42 Active Answers(18 Deleted)". Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 14:38
  • 1
    @AugustoVasques I agree "Undeleted" is not ideal, though "Active" already has a meaning and it would conflict with the fact that you can edit deleted answers... making a deleted answer potentially "more active" than the most recently edited/posted undeleted answer. This is why I think the first option is better: it removes the need to think of a clever word for undeleted answers altogether.
    – TylerH
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 14:41
  • 2
    what about 42 answers (of which 18 deleted) or 42 visible answers, 18 deleted
    – blackgreen
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 14:55
  • @blackgreen "Visible" is nicer than "Undeleted", though still long compared to the primary suggestion (it's less a concern from SE's perspective, but I think it would be nice to leave space for what other people might put in that section with user styles/scripts or Stack Apps, etc. Personally I feel the first suggestion is way too long/wordy (and awkward with the missing "are" in the parenthetical).
    – TylerH
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 16:04
  • This FR is better than nothing, but I would like other like this one. Because I don't think I need to know COUNT how much answers are live, and how much are deleted. I just want to see CONTENT of all, or only for live answers. So simple on/off switcher (somewhere between count and sorting mode) would do the thing. Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 18:52
  • @αλεχολυτ That's a completely different request (read: for a different thing). As I mentioned at the very beginning of this post, this request is not that.
    – TylerH
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 18:56

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .