No way to delete an answered question

Question

Here's my issue, mostly with privacy:

I connected all my SE accounts long ago but recent events have made it much easier to jump from my profile here to my profile elsewhere.
I have questions on site A that I'd rather not be associated with my "identity" from site B.
I have no way to delete a question on site A since it has been answered and I have no way to anonomize it for privacy concerns.

Is there a way to:

Have you tried flagging the question to suggest its deletion? — Grace Note, Commented Apr 8, 2011 at 14:14
No. I was going to but that didn't seem like the best solution to me — Joe Phillips, Commented Apr 8, 2011 at 14:14
Anonymizing makes more sense to me. Deletion would keep the post from being of any future help to users below 10k, and the user who correctly answered would lose any rep they earned for providing a correct answer. — Mick MacCallum, Commented Sep 17, 2012 at 18:24

Shog9 · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-29 19:43:49Z

17

Delete the question: Ask a moderator (flag...) - but try to include a good reason why the question itself deserves to be removed. Moderators really shouldn't be removing decent content simply because the OP doesn't want it anymore.
Anonymize the question: Again, ask a moderator - they can disassociate the question from your account. The user on the post will show as "anon", and your profile will no longer show any effects of the question (including reputation changes from votes on it).
Anonymize all of your posts (by deleting your profile) You can delete your profile entirely on a single site, leaving all posts disassociated (this won't touch your profiles on other sites). To delete your account, use the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page and fill out the form.

answered Apr 8, 2011 at 14:20

Shog9Mod

454k203 gold badges1.3k silver badges1.9k bronze badges

14

+1000 for "moderators shouldn't be removing decent content simply because the OP doesn't want it anymore."
– Pekka
Commented Apr 8, 2011 at 14:24
Trust me, I'd much prefer to anonymize questions rather than delete them. I really wish I didn't have to dissociate my account either but I'm left with relatively no choice.
– Joe Phillips
Commented Apr 9, 2011 at 1:43
3

Developers can also anonymize specific posts without necessarily deleting the account, fyi
– Jeff Atwood
Commented Apr 10, 2011 at 18:13
1

Note: The third option is apparently no longer possible, and the instructions it links to have been deleted.
– Ilmari Karonen
Commented Sep 17, 2012 at 17:16
Thanks for the heads-up, @IlmariKaronen - removed!
– Shog9 Mod
Commented Sep 17, 2012 at 17:51
@Pëkka This is (I think) rarely the case. It often happens that a question gets loads of downvotes which basically means that the rep of the person who asked it takes hit after hit. Sometimes it's just not possible to improve the question and the provided answer to a crappy question isn't something spectacular either. Such questions are basically a honeypot for downvotes with (almost) no value whatsoever.
– rbaleksandar
Commented Oct 13, 2017 at 7:34
@rbaleksandar that's where steps 2 and 3 suggested by Shog come in. Asking for content to be anonymized is quick and easy.
– Pekka
Commented Oct 13, 2017 at 8:02
NOOO MY PRECIOUS REPS! DON'T DO IT!
– NoName
Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 18:09

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Time Traveling Bobby · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-08 14:16:17Z

0

You can have all of that, you just need to make the team aware of it.

Either flag your question for Moderator Attention or send an email to [email protected] and request one of these actions.

answered Apr 8, 2011 at 14:16

27.1k8 gold badges66 silver badges121 bronze badges

For option 3, the button "Clear All Associations" on the accounts tab of site A would be sufficient? Deletion of an answered question might be possible, but is limited for a good reason.
– Arjan
Commented Apr 8, 2011 at 14:23

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2 Answers 2