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I was rather shocked when I logged on to Stack Overflow today to discover that I have a question ban. I was actually really disappointed.

So before I get upset, I'd like to find out why. I checked my posts and there are no negative scores on my questions. So is this an IP ban on the office? Did I accidentally offend a moderator?

If this helps, office IP is: 69.172.149.74

Can someone shed some light on this? I've been a member for almost a year and was loving every moment of it.

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  • 1
    Do you have deleted questions with low scores? Because those (probably) count.
    – Josh Darnell
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:46
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    The key thing you said was office IP - how many other people also log in to SO from that location?
    – slugster
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:48
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    The only question deleted with a negative score was a -1. My other questions were usually deleted when I found an answer and no one responded within the day.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:48
  • @slugster at this particular IP there's only about 3 other devs and none are using SO that I have asked.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:49
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    How many no-response questions did you delete? Like most people, I don't know the question ban algorithm, but previous MSO posts indicate that the number of deleted posts (regardless of their scores) plays a role.
    – Pops
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:51
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    FYI, moderators can temporarily suspend people, but permanent post bans that apply to IP addresses are always automatic.
    – a cat
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:54
  • My best guess is 5-7 over the last 8 months. If that's the reason I'll definitely stop deleting and stop asking questions which may never have an answer.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:54
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    @DeLonge - If you find an answer to your unanswered question, don't delete it! Post your answer and accept it! Why are you depriving future people that have the same problem of the answer?
    – Eric
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:57
  • @Eric To be honest I thought it was a content and SEO issue, and SO's goals were to provide quality content and answers to be found on Google. So I simply deleted questions which I thought wouldn't provide long-term value.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:01
  • @DeLonge - Why would an answered question not provide value? If you had a problem, chances are, somebody in the future will also have that problem. Best to make it an archived solution rather than just deleting it!
    – Eric
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:02
  • @Eric absolutely agree and I see where my mistakes are. it's now a matter of getting back on SO and changing my behaviour.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:05
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    At least you're making an effort to be a good citizen, unlike most of the people who get question-banned. Perhaps you could get a mod to undelete some of the better posts so you can add answers to them? I know it's hard to find your own deleted questions, though....
    – Pops
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:05
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    @PopularDemand I'll ask around and see what I can do. Looks like best solution is to simply start contributing back with quality answers and learn a little more in the interim. Thanks to all for the support.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:16
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    Kudos for coming here looking for understanding of a potentially "negative" situation, but doing so with an open mind. +1 and look forward to asking/answering with you on the Main soon!
    – Andrew Barber
    Jan 6 '12 at 0:10
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If you have to ask: You have eighteen deleted questions. Most of those deleted by yourself within hours of posting them. Some examples I looked at weren't exactly good questions, either. There's at least one question that actually got a reasonable answer, and you deleted it anyway.

That's one huge block of wasting people's time, and that's exactly what the question ban is trying to stop.

For more, I refer you to What can I do when getting "We are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account"?.

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  • 1
    Fair enough, and I didn't realize it was such a habit. So I have a bit of understanding to do about this community and I see where this is coming from.
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 20:58
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    @DeLonge: For what it's worth, we've seen much worse :) So don't despair. Spend some time answering questions instead, getting to know the community, and the ban will be gone sooner or later. And lose the habit of deleting a question just because it hasn't received an answer in two hours. Some great answers have come after months or years. Maybe for you the problem has been lost in time by then, but for someone else, your question and the answer may still be helpful.
    – balpha
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:07
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    Thanks for the support and I'll get back on track :)
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:10
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    @balpha - is there really no way (as the link above states) to get a user like this back in good standing besides having him answer new questions? Would throwing him some upvotes help? After seeing this moron in action, OP doesn't seem so harmful.
    – Adam Rackis
    Jan 5 '12 at 21:34
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    @AdamRackis not sure if you threw some upvotes (or if it helped) but the question ban is gone. Definitely going to think about my next question. ;) Thanks to all for following up and helping out!
    – crockpotveggies
    Jan 5 '12 at 22:34
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    @DeLonge - I was going to in a few hours when I get a new batch of votes, but I'm glad to hear you're in good standing again. Try going through your browser history and finding some of your deleted questions, and un-delete them. If you have the answer, then add it.
    – Adam Rackis
    Jan 5 '12 at 22:36
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    I was gonna suggest to @DeLonge that the VERY best thing to do is to answer your own question with your solution. Then mark it answered a day or two later if nobody else posts a better answer. That would be a lot more community friendly, as it were.
    – jcolebrand
    Jan 6 '12 at 1:49

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