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Yesterday I answered this question Finding best path given a distance transform and after a while it was deleted by its own author.

Can a moderator undelete a question deleted by its author? It seems to me it happened in the past (see I get page not found "voluntarily removed by its author" after I wrote an answer).

Furthermore I would like to know whether the question was deleted directly by its author or the question was deleted following a "close procedure".

Please apologize if I did not read with attention the FAQ about deleted question but I am quite unhappy after spending time and effort in answering that question and seeing it now deleted.

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    It is deleted by the user, not by a mod or by close voters
    – rene
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:32
  • Looking at the page that shows up when trying to view the question and it says was removed by the author. Not sure why a mod would go about un-deleting a question that was removed by the author unless there was evidence that the author deleted it for malicious reasons.
    – Joe W
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:33
  • Can you or should you?
    – Affable Geek
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:34
  • @JoeW But if the answer has value shouldn't it be undeleted?
    – user000001
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:35
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    @user000001 If the author deleted the question because it was bad/questionable and a mod comes back and un-deletes it because it had an answer then the author will most likely end up receiving downvotes for the question. Which will just make the un-deletion a punishment for the author and potentially bring back bad content to the site. Deletion of questions/answers are not always a bad thing.
    – Joe W
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:39
  • possible duplicate of I get page not found "voluntarily removed by its author" after I wrote an answer
    – Joe W
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:40
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    There could be a couple of reasons why an OP deletes his question. Maybe to prevent detection by school/university/co-workers, maybe because the OP wasn't sure the question was of high enough quality. Maybe the OP doesn't realize yet that (s)he wasted your time. These things can happen here.
    – rene
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:51
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    To strictly answer your question here, by the way; Yes. Moderators can undelete such posts.
    – Andrew Barber
    Jan 20, 2014 at 19:55
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    as can three non-diamond users :-)
    – Kate Gregory
    Jan 20, 2014 at 20:04
  • related meta.stackexchange.com/a/145568/158100 see the question part of the answer.
    – rene
    Jan 20, 2014 at 20:11
  • A mod would have to have a pretty good reason to undelete a question the user deleted. They've usually deleted it for a good reason (at least according to them). Writing an answer that may eventually get deleted is a risk you take every time you answer.
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Jan 20, 2014 at 20:21
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    @AlienArrays I think it is only impossible to delete once an answer has a positive score.
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Jan 20, 2014 at 20:57
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    @JoeW I disagree. Many times users, especially new, go and delete the question after they got what they wanted. While not malicious, they just have no idea Stack Overflow is not their personal support forum and any useful content posted should stick around. Moderators can, and should, undelete useful questions, and so 10K users as was the case in that specific question.
    – Shadow Wizard Chasing Stars
    Jan 20, 2014 at 22:03
  • possible duplicate of What are valid reasons to vote to undelete posts deleted by their owners?
    – Martijn Pieters
    Jan 20, 2014 at 22:25
  • @ShadowWizard I think that would just go back to moderator discretion about what to do.
    – Joe W
    Jan 20, 2014 at 22:50

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