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I posted a question which was given downvotes because as it was, was found to be more appropriate for Code Review rather than Stack Overflow. I've tried to edit the format for it to be appropriate for Stack Overflow (please do give me feedback if there's anything more I should do though for this question or if it's not practical to repair it to an appropriate question), but actually the reason I'm posting on Meta is I got a weird warning when trying to delete it.

The warning was that I could be barred from asking questions if I keep deleting questions for which an answer has been submitted (this would have been my first instance, btw). In this case the only answer added was my own. Even when I temporarily deleted the answer, I still got this warning when I tried to delete the question. So is this a bug? It seems to me the reason for penalising a person for deleting a question with an answer is that the answer took up the time of another user, and so you've wasted their time. If the answer is your own, then that rationale wouldn't apply. Or I'm overlooking a reason why a penalty should stand for deleting a question in which the only answer posted is the original poster's?

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    the idea is you are supposed to think before asking, not just ask, realize it's unsalvageable, delete, and then repeat and repeat and repeat. If you can edit it into something that belongs on the site, that will always be better than impulsively deleting it and believing that gives you a clean slate. – Kate Gregory Mar 23 '18 at 14:07
  • But what you're talking about applies to all deletions of questions, rather than the warning I got about specific instances which contrast when I vs. another user has posted an answer to my own question. Not that Users shouldn't think before posting questions. – it Haffens Mar 23 '18 at 14:11
  • @KateGregory So far I've received two up votes - two down votes. As the person who's comment is being liked, can you clarify how my response to it is misguided. To clarify, I agree generally that users should think before posting a question. However, this warning message isn't about generally deleting posts, but deleting posts in the specific circumstances I'm talking about. – it Haffens Mar 23 '18 at 15:22
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    In general, deleting posts is bad (compared to editing them or just never posting them in the first place.) Deleting posts with answers is extra bad. If the answer is yours, you may not have wasted anyone else's time, but you may be removing vaiuable content. In any case, more than one developer has told me they are unwilling to write a lot of code to handle the special case where someone doing what the bad users do isn't a bad user in this case. – Kate Gregory Mar 23 '18 at 15:30
  • @KateGregory Thanks - I see what you mean by it being disproportionate effort to deal an edge case like this. – it Haffens Mar 23 '18 at 15:33

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