4

I discovered the Disciplined badge -- which you get by deleting your own post with score of 3 or higher. And, I've gone through What is the purpose of the "disciplined" badge? and Description of the "disciplined" badge.

Might some people delete good answers to get this badge? Is there a system or group of moderators which checks when answers, having more than a 3 score, are deleted -- especially if a badge-reward results? (IE: "Gaming the Disciplined badge")

Update:
I am not saying to remove this badge. I just wanted to know if there is a system or moderation tracking deleted answers having 3 or more score.

5
  • 6
    You completely changed the meaning of your question... don't do that.
    – Felix
    May 11, 2012 at 9:44
  • Actually I asked 2 questions under same title. But then I got to know my second question is my actual question. And people assuming different question. Ist question is pointing to 2nd question. But people may assume different views that title. That's why I have changed my title. Isn't that fair? May 11, 2012 at 10:25
  • 2
    There are those who get it naturally by being disciplined (deleting an outdated or wrong but upvoted answer), and those who just want the badge, who can undelete their post again right after getting the badge.
    – a cat
    May 11, 2012 at 11:12
  • Does badge retain after undeleting post. What's purpose of that badge then? May 11, 2012 at 11:22
  • possible duplicate of I cheated on the Disciplined badge, how bad is it? Dec 30, 2013 at 6:11

3 Answers 3

7

No there is no direct system for checking answers with 3 or more upvotes that get deleted. I'm guessing that there shouldn't be such a system either; do you have evidence of a problem?

Sometimes users will delete their posts in a snit. This is usually caught by the super-secret vandalism flag.

Most of the time, when a user deletes an upvoted answer, it is just out of embarrassment, when they've posted incorrect or incomplete info that got upvoted while someone else posted a better or more complete answer. So, the question and community loses nothing.

However, there are mechanisms to detect and reverse less-than-honorable deletions:

  1. The aforementioned vandalism flag.
  2. Moderators can see deleted answers and undelete them if they feel it is warranted.
  3. High-reputation users can also see deleted answers (10K rep) and flag them for undeletion. Or, sometimes directly vote to undelete them (20K rep).
  4. If you are a low rep user, and you know that a valuable answer was deleted, flag the question and/or post here on meta about the deleted answer. It will get straightened out if warranted.
4
7

If you have posted an answer almost identical to somebody else's that was posted at the same time and their answer is accepted over yours, then I can see the reasoning for deleting your own answer, even if it is up voted.

Even though your answer is perfectly good, it is now just a repetition of the accepted answer and adds no value to SO. Hence, the disciplined thing to do is to delete your post to remove the 'noise'.

If your answer contains some extra, valid information then the ultra-disciplined thing to do is to edit that information into the accepted answer.

I think such discipline deserves a badge.

So, in this case the good answer has not been lost, but possibly made slightly better. I imagine the Disciplined badge was created to encourage just this type of behaviour.

I'm not a moderator, so I can't offer an answer on the second part of your question.

2
  • I know reasons for disciplined badge. Does any system or moderators checks this answer is deleted is good or bad. So community shouldn't lose good answers. May 11, 2012 at 9:28
  • 3
    @SomnathMuluk Well it's hard to answer a question accurately when it gets a major edit after you've answered it.
    – vascowhite
    May 11, 2012 at 9:31
1

There is no system that triggers on a single deleted answer, of which I am aware, but there are moderator tools that show us when a user has deleted larger numbers of their own posts, regardless of their scores.

The thinking being that if someone is just deleting one or two posts, they must have a reason for it. No sense throwing up lots of moderator noise for that sort of thing. But if they are deleting multiple things, that could be a problem.

You must log in to answer this question.

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