4

I earned the Tumbleweed badge for this SO question, which has since been removed.

Searching MSO, I found one somewhat-related question that indicates that I should be able to find out why the question was deleted, or at least whether it was a community or moderator decision to delete. However, the links on the deleted question's page only provide a link to a FAQ of possible reasons.

As the OP, how can I find out definitively why my question was removed (aside from finding the closing moderator)?

Improve this question
6
  • 2
    To the badge issue: all badges (except tag badges) are eternal.
    – Mike G
    Mar 1, 2013 at 20:00
  • 2
    How do “badges” work? Read the section What can cause a badge to be lost/revoked/taken away after it is awarded?. You do not lose badges unless it is a tag badge.
    – user213400
    Mar 1, 2013 at 20:01
  • Looks like the question was deleted automatically; no deleter was logged. The system cleans out low-vote, low-views posts over time; yours was deleted after a year without votes and without many views (237 at the current count).
    – Martijn Pieters
    Mar 5, 2013 at 0:13
  • @MartijnPieters what's the cutoff for "low-views"?
    – Richard
    Mar 8, 2013 at 20:09
  • @Richard: See the post Anna links to in her answer: viewcount <= the age of the question in days times 1.5
    – Martijn Pieters
    Mar 8, 2013 at 20:30
  • Note that the answer to this question has changed significantly since the original answer was posted. The way it currently works is explained in the FAQ, linked above.
    – Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
    Jul 30, 2018 at 22:46

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

Unless you have 10,000 reputation and can see the deleted question, you unfortunately can't find out the exact deletion reason short of posting here on meta and asking. This comes up periodically, and I personally think we should allow askers to see their own deleted questions if they at least have the link to them. Showing deleted stuff on profiles is a bigger debate.

With all that said, your question was removed automatically because it fit the deletion criteria: it had zero score, no answers or comments, low views, and was over a year old.

Improve this answer
6
  • 2
    I wholeheartedly agree about allowing OPs to see their own deleted questions if they have a link.
    – Andrew Barber
    Mar 5, 2013 at 1:57
  • Just curious, I saw on one of the deleted posts that you had left a comment for the user to read the faq. It was a nice welcome message for new users but the comment and deletion timestamps were same. Can the user still see the full comment other than the shortened message on the inbox?
    – user213400
    Mar 5, 2013 at 2:20
  • @Siva On an answer, yes. On a question... to be honest, I'm always a bit hazy on that. I think those comments would disappear from the inbox?
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Mar 5, 2013 at 2:26
  • I remember seeing your comment on an answer and not on a question. I have no idea if comments on deleted questions disappear from inbox or not. I haven't experienced it yet.
    – user213400
    Mar 5, 2013 at 2:35
  • At the time, I didn't realize this could happen; is there any way for me to retrieve the body of the question so that I can try to re-work it as a new question (obviously in a way that would generate more responses)?
    – Richard
    Mar 6, 2013 at 4:08
  • 1
    @Richard I'll email it to you.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Mar 6, 2013 at 4:32
7

Your question was removed most likely because it didn't have any activity/attention for a long period of time. See FAQ.Deletion

Over time, closed questions that are not useful as signpoints to other questions may also be removed, as well as questions which have no significant activity over a very long period after being asked.

And once you earn a regular badge, you earn it forever.

Improve this answer
1
  • Agreed, this is most likely, especially coupled with Tumbleweed. However, I was under the impression that the exact reason is available to the poster.
    – Richard
    Mar 1, 2013 at 20:53

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