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I've been pretty active in community-moderation/curation here for a bit, but I'm honestly still confused about one part of the process.

Let's say that someone, for example, posts a link-only answer. I usually reply with a comment like:

While this may be useful information, just a heads-up that link-only answers are strongly discouraged, and often deleted on Stack Exchange sites since they aren't considered complete "answers". It's best to include the relevant portions of the link, or at least a summary, in your answer. Thanks!

And then I flag it as not-an-answer. The "answer" is typically deleted by a mod shortly thereafter.

But let's say that the user fixes the problem after deletion via an edit, and they put enough information directly in their post to answer the question independent of the link.

At that point, how does the answer get undeleted?

  • Must it be flagged by the user for a Mod to review? If so, does the user (usually a new user) know this?
  • Is it like an edit to a closed-question, where the edit has a checkbox that "This edit solves the original delete reason"? I'm kind of doubting this is the case, because there's no "undelete queue" that things go into that I'm aware of.
  • Does a mod get notified of edits to deleted posts automatically for review?
  • Or should the user post here on Meta asking for review and undeletion?

And are there instructions provided automatically to the user as to what is expected of them in order to have their post undeleted?

Or is it better that we advise the user to create a new answer if the existing one is already deleted?

With questions, it's clear to me as a community user how to propose that a closed-question be reopened. For one that was deleted, I'd use either Chat or Meta. But for answers, it's just not clear to me how a new user would get their post undeleted if they fixed it.

2
  • I have recently edited/improved an already closed question for the purpose of reopening, and there was a checkbox at the bottom of the edit-form, with a prominent voluminous label that offered (upon checking) to submit the post into a "reopen" queue. Question is, whether that feature would be available for answers as well... I don't know. But I guess it could make sense. (I have checked it, and as I remember, it had immediately implicitly cast the first reopen vote on my behalf. That makes me think whether this feature is tied to high rep (privilege to vote to close) or not...)
    – Levente
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 17:09
  • @Levente The "checkbox" is available to everyone and will place the answer back into the reopen review queue, but only on closed (not deleted) questions, which doesn't apply to answers.
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 17:28

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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  • Must it be flagged by the user for a Mod to review? If so, does the user (usually a new user) know this?

Yes, since mod-deleted posts cannot be undeleted by anyone else other than the mods, and one way to notify the mods is by flagging it. While deleted posts also show the banner that references Why and how are some answers deleted?, it's not explained about the additional restriction put on the mod deletion and flagging for undeletion.

  • Is it like an edit to a closed-question, where the edit has a checkbox that "This edit solves the original delete reason"? I'm kind of doubting this is the case, because there's no "undelete queue" that things go into that I'm aware of.

No, there's no Undelete vote review queue, though anyone with access to "moderator tools" (10k) can see posts with delete & undelete votes. However, as mentioned above that mod-deleted posts cannot be voted on by regular users, the post won't show there.

  • Does a mod get notified of edits to deleted posts automatically for review?

No, unless the mod also follows the posts.

  • Or should the user post here on Meta asking for review and undeletion?

Since everyone can post on the meta regarding their own post, this might be another option.

Or is it better that we advise the user to create a new answer if the existing one is already deleted?

Posting a new answer if the deleted answer can still be salvaged/edited is discouraged, though it's somewhat understandable but unfortunate that the new user may post it as a new answer instead of waiting for their post to be undeleted due to the confusion or impatient...

And there's that - If "flagging" is the answer, then it's not going to be intuitively obvious to a new user that it is what they should do, unless it's explained to them in advance. Once deleted, non-Mods can no longer add comments to help guide the new user.

Appending the comment with "feel free to flag the post requesting for undeletion after the answer has been improved" may be appreciated. Otherwise, 10k users can also flag the post for undeletion if they think the deleted posts are worthy to be undeleted.

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Well - as the OP, you do the necessary changes, make sure its good enough and flag for undeletion.

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  • Does a new user with 1 rep (the ones who are typically posting link-only-answers) have the ability to flag their own posts? I know that they don't typically get flagging privileges until 15 rep, but is it like comments, where they can comment on their own posts at 1 rep, but not others'?
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 15:32
  • meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/408766/… Indicates yes but I swear there's a more canonical source I am failing to find
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 15:49
  • That's a good find, though - The comment from Ryan M says that it was tested and works.
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 15:54
  • But then again, the parent question says that it was tested and didn't ...
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 15:56
  • 3
    "Flagging" might for many people be associated with negative/problematic things. It may be, especially for a beginner, counterintuitive to use a flagging feature to signal an improvement... (I guess it could be mitigated if the edit form on an already closed post would contain additional context-specific guidance.)
    – Levente
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 17:13
  • 1
    @Levente And there's that - If "flagging" is the answer, then it's not going to be intuitively obvious to a new user that it is what they should do, unless it's explained to them in advance. Once deleted, non-Mods can no longer add comments to help guide the new user.
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 20, 2023 at 17:26
  • Perhaps a steer towards the home of editing on AU: Raiders of the Lost Downboat?
    – andrew.46 Mod
    Commented Jan 21, 2023 at 1:07
  • 1
    @NotTheDr01ds unfortunately not all changes are well documented - so new science over old. If the meta post referring to this can't be found it might be worth asking there for formal documentation I can point at
    – Journeyman Geek
    Commented Jan 21, 2023 at 1:43
  • @andrew.46 Do you mean steer the new user to Raiders? Unfortunately they can't join chat either, right?
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 21, 2023 at 1:59
  • @NotTheDr01ds That needs 20 Rep points doesn't it? Sigh, hopefully that is my last stupid comment for the day...
    – andrew.46 Mod
    Commented Jan 21, 2023 at 2:14
  • @andrew.46 Meant to come back to that earlier. Not stupid at all. My question here is rooted in the fact that it may be difficult-to-impossible for new users to figure out how to correct their mistake (especially on link-only-answers) if they do fix the answer by adding the necessary detail. I think we all are making assumptions about the process that new users just don't have access to or can't figure out.
    – NotTheDr01ds
    Commented Jan 22, 2023 at 1:01

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