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So.. I answer a question....

Then the user promptly deletes it...

How to subtract multiple subpaths from a shape easily in Illustrator or Sketch?

This not only makes me feel like I've simply wasted my time, but it also prevents any future user benefiting from solutions.

Should questions like this be undeleted?

3 Answers 3

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Flag for a moderator to review and we will look at it. At one time users weren't allowed to delete a question once an answer had been posted so I dont know when this was changed. However, I would suggest possibly editing the rant out. On that topic, it could possibly be marked as a duplicate since we have several questions that relate to using pathfinder.

Since your question was in regards to the user deleting after its been answered. My feeling is if someone put forth the time to answer the question it should not be deleted. This decision may vary based on the context of the question. If the question is rude, lack of info, and the overall answer is not directly helpful and an edit hasn't be done then I'm for the OP of deleting the question.

Also, if an OP wants to delete a question that may be a duplicate I am for it ONLY if the answeree has been contacted and asked to copy there answer to the original question so they may obtain the deserved rep.

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  • Good points. It wasn't that big of a deal. It just gave me the impress of a snub. Which is fine, we have enough Adobe questions. But it seemed like poor behavior nontheless.
    – Scott
    Jul 30, 2014 at 3:13
  • If I remember right, questions can't be deleted after they have an answer with X+ upvotes - a sop to stackoverflow.com where they're happy for questions to be speed-deleted when the answer is "Your code doesn't work because there's a typo". Makes sense there but not here - wonder if we could ask for it to be changed for non-typo-afflicted sites? Jul 30, 2014 at 16:59
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If anyone is curious about our "legal backing" for preventing these types of deletions, here's the administrative answer. Each page had some text in the footer that reads:

USER CONTRIBUTIONS LICENSED UNDER CC BY-SA 3.0 WITH ATTRIBUTION REQUIRED

This goes for all questions, answers, comments. It was not the case for this question, but as a general rule if a user insists that it's "their question" and they can delete it if they please, they're likely misguided. By posting under CC BY-SA 3.0, you immediately surrender the right to control its publication.

Here's the boilerplate message that moderators have the option of sending to users in this type of situation:

You have recently removed or defaced a lot of content from your posts. Please note that once you post a question or answer to this site, those posts become part of the collective efforts of others who have also contributed to that content, and should not be removed except under extraordinary circumstances. Even if the post is no longer useful to the original author, that information is still beneficial to others who may run into similar problems in the future.

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  • WEll that'll make for lots of happy deleters :) Seems Mr E Upvoter may have left a comment (which I never saw) on that question that may have caused the deletion.
    – Scott
    Jul 30, 2014 at 14:23
  • I removed the comment because it added no value to the question and would have been flagged for rudeness. It read: "Just out of curiosity, how old were you when you met yourself and had a chat about Flash? I'm hoping future me will pay me a visit someday too."
    – user9447
    Jul 30, 2014 at 17:02
  • @Matt good call. I think I'd delete my question if that was my first experience here too.
    – Scott
    Jul 30, 2014 at 18:00
  • D... it's all water under the proverbial bridge at this point.
    – Scott
    Jul 30, 2014 at 23:32
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One time I saw a guy rage quit when people voted to close one of his questions. He continuously edited that question and all of his others to say something like "Nevermind, ignore this question" despite some of them having Answers (which he had accepted).

I kept rolling back his edit, and he kept doing it again. I eventually rolled it back and told him to stop doing it, people took their time to answer the question for the betterment of the community. Deleting the question is disrespectful to those that took time out of their day to help you.

Matt happened to be in Chat at the time so I also pinged him and he Protected the questions.

I think these should absolutely be rolled back to show the question.

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