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I recently answered this question over at the main site.

The OP then accepted my answer, and then asked me to upvote his question. I politely told him that asking for upvotes is not considered nice on SO. He then asked me to delete my answer, presumably so that he can delete his question (SO doesn't let you delete questions if they have answers).

How should I deal with this kind of a situation?

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    Ignore him. Period.
    – Mysticial
    Jan 16, 2013 at 14:29
  • @Mysticial That's what I'm currently doing. Just wondering if there's something else I should do.
    – Raghav Sood
    Jan 16, 2013 at 14:32
  • Something else you could do would be provide a couple meta links explaining why deleting downvoted questions is unwise and could lead to a question ban.
    – Esoteric Screen Name
    Jan 16, 2013 at 14:33

3 Answers 3

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I've left a comment on the post.

For your part, Keep on keepin' on. You're doing the right thing by answering. The user's post has issues, and I think the downvotes are being compounded because of the comments he's left.

In the future:

  • Ignore the user
  • If they persist: flag for moderator attention
  • Don't delete upvoted answers unless you feel like you should. No one can tell you to delete your answer
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  • Well, anyone can tell you to delete your answer; that's part of the freedom of speech. You just don't need to listen to them.
    – Servy
    Jan 16, 2013 at 15:50
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    @Servy This is a private site; Freedom of Speech doesn't exist here. However, you're right that by custom, we generally do not delete comments willy-nilly, nor do we really care about the content of comments (so long as they meet some pre-ordained criteria).
    – George Stocker
    Jan 16, 2013 at 16:27
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    Freemdom of speech, on SO, is not a right given by any government. It's a privilege given to us by the owners of the site through the TOS stating what is and isn't appropriate to post here. That doesn't change the fact that, as long as you follow the rules/guidelines (which this is within), you are free to say what you want.
    – Servy
    Jan 16, 2013 at 16:47
  • @Servy Even not on Stack Overflow, Freedom of Speech is not 'given' or 'granted' by any government, it's a Natural Law right (that would exist even if no governments existed to give it to us); but this isn't the place for a philosophical discussion on rights. Regardless, you and I are in agreement about comments.
    – George Stocker
    Jan 16, 2013 at 16:50
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Ignore him. Period.

If he gets too persistent, flag it for moderator attention.

That said, the question is so heavily downvoted and already has a close vote. So there's a good chance the OP will get what he wants anyway if the community closes and deletes the question.

So there isn't much you can do about it.

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Begging for rep like he is doing in the comments on your answer is really not looked upon kindly. If you think your answer has value to the community, then I wouldn't delete it. I think you are probably doing him a favor by not deleting because if he deletes his question, given his history, he will probably trigger a question ban.

And if he keeps it up, I'd consider flagging for mod attention, if nothing more than to clean up the comments under your question.

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