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Possible Duplicate:
Allow author of accepted answer to delete it in certain circumstances

I know this is a dupe, but in the answers I looked at here, I couldn't see any response from "the management" on why we can't delete accepted answers. I've had the need to do this a couple of times on SO recently. Can anyone point me at a justification for not being able to do this from Jeff?

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  • To delete the answer you'll need to get it unaccepted. The only way you can do this is to contact the OP through a comment on the question. If the answer is incorrect why not edit it to make it correct? Or if it can't be resurrected delete the content with an explanation and change it to community wiki
    – ChrisF Mod
    Mar 11, 2010 at 10:18
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    @ChrisF Yes, I know all that. My question is why can't I simply delete it.
    – nb69307
    Mar 11, 2010 at 10:24
  • Fair enough, I was just clarifying the current options. I suppose at some point the simplest thing to do it just delete.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Mar 11, 2010 at 10:27
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    +1 from me - I've wanted to do this a couple of times too, when I've realised my answer is wrong or worse, actively a terrible idea, and the user has abandoned the question. I've tended to edit in a heading at the beginning of my answer, but it'd be nice if I could obliterate my answer completely.
    – Dominic Rodger
    Mar 11, 2010 at 10:28
  • "The Management" may not respond. Vote up the feature request, add your comments, and hope they implement it. Keep in mind, however, that the person who asked the question found your answer useful, and they would be dismayed to have lost the answer they chose as the accepted answer. SO, being collaboratively edited, does not give you power to delete your own stuff under certain circumstances (just as if you posted a question with upvoted answers) If you cannot contact the OP and have them select another answer, flag your post for moderator attention and explain the situation.
    – Pollyanna
    Mar 11, 2010 at 13:48
  • I don't buy that argument at all. The OP, after all, is asking a question precisely because he doesn't know the answer. Why do we assume that he is competent to judge the value of the answers given?
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Jul 17, 2018 at 19:28

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