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I was wondering why I couldn't delete my own question. Well actually, I have accepted the question itself to be wrong and even I feel that I have accepted a wrong answer, but when I try to delete my question, I get a message saying that,"This question can't be deleted, flag it for moderator attention". Why is this happening and how can I solve this?

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    May be because some one has made effort in answering your question that is your question has some answers. Question with answers can not be deleted by a user except moderator. It will be good if you provide link to that question.
    – Harry Joy
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 4:04

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If answers have been provided, you would be deleting more than just your work/effort so it is quite fair that you cannot delete your question.

However, if you have a good reason for deleting the question, flag it for moderator attention (as per the message) and enter your reason and the moderators can decide whether it (and therefore other users answers) can be deleted. I'm sure there are plenty of situations that this is perfectly valid.

You can also check your flag weight page for information about flags you raise and this is where a moderator I think can leave a comment if they decide not to delete your question. Otherwise, post here (on MSO) for help about a specific question.

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    Ok. So if only my moderator can delete it, will I earn the badge "disciplined" for it. Bcoz my question has 3 votes currently and which means when I delete it, I could earn a new badge.
    – Andro Selva
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 5:16
  • Not sure @Andro...
    – davidsleeps
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 5:17
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    only my moderator can delete it There are no specific moderator for users. We all have same moderators.
    – Harry Joy
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 5:19
  • @Harry That was my mistake. I was meaning moderators.
    – Andro Selva
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 10:10
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IANAL, but I think the way it's implemented right now violates CC-Wiki license.

The attribution clause means, that the attribution must be removed on author's request. In this case there is no way to do so. You cannot delete the question, which kind of makes sense as David pointed out. But neither can you remove your attribution (i.e. unlink question from your account).

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode

If You create a Collection, upon notice from any Licensor You must, to the extent practicable, remove from the Collection any credit as required by Section 4(c), as requested.

IMO this should be fixed.

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  • Removing the attribution would mean to remove the association between the post and the user who posted it; it doesn't mean to be able to delete the post. If that would mean to be able to freely delete your own question, then also the authors of the answers for that question should be asked about deleting their answers, which would be automatically deleted when the answer is deleted.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 11:22
  • @kia: so how does it differ from what I wrote?
    – vartec
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 11:41
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    @vartec: nothing in the license says that the process of removing attribution must be automated. If you want attribution to be removed, simply flag the question for moderation or contact the SE team directly. I'm sure they'll comply.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 11:54
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    @Joachim: making ppl jump through hoops to perform simple actions like deleting account or removing attribution is more typical of scammer sites. I know SE is not one of these sites, thus it should adhere to higher standards than scammers and spammers. Also I'm quite convinced, that failing to clearly notify of such option is violation of privacy laws in many countries.
    – vartec
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 14:01
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    @vartec: I see where you are comming from, but contacting support to get your stuff (content or account) deleted is a fairly common solution.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 14:03
  • @Joachim: I'm also referring to the fact, that it requires digging around in the meta sites, to actually know of that option. It's not in generic FAQ stackoverflow.com/faq, nor is there a 'privacy' link in the footer.
    – vartec
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 14:13
  • @vartec The OP is asking why he cannot delete his question, and that is not contemplated by the CC-Wiki license. Dissociating from a question is different from deleting it; in the first case, the user who asked it would be reported to be "deleted," "dissociated," or something like that.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 18:09
  • I agree with vartecs opinion - i would like to be able to delete a question of mine and already asked the moderators to do so. I understand what @davidsleeps is saying that other work would be lost as well. So i am asking the mods to remove my attribution.
    – slackmuggle
    Commented Jul 23, 2013 at 20:25

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