17

Specifically with regards to these JAVA questions:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/5567/how-to-install-the-sun-java-jdk

https://askubuntu.com/questions/52154/how-do-i-install-the-latest-version-of-sun-java/52158#52158

Whilst these questions and answers have been closed as a duplicate - these questions have now outdated answers that is - Sun Java has been removed from the repositories.

I've noticed that some of the answers are still being updated - however the accepted answers and some of the other answers are clearly wrong (although correct at the time of the question submission).

Should we:

  1. Ignore and do nothing - the questions have been closed
  2. Edit and headline the incorrect answers as "This is outdated but was historically correct when submitted"
  3. Delete the answers referring to the installing SUN JAVA via the repositories.

My personal preference is point 2 - but I would welcome a community consensus. Thanks.

Community Outcome - the largest number of votes is to delete and hence has been accepted.

6
  • Often, those answers can be edited to make then correct. Not in this case of course, but, editing is always the first choice.
    – Stefano Palazzo
    Mar 6, 2012 at 21:17
  • 1
    I like option #2, keep em around for historic reasons - who knows when a user will stumble upon that edge case again.
    – rlemon
    Mar 8, 2012 at 23:06
  • @rlemon - can you add that as an answer so that we can vote on it please... thanks.
    – fossfreedom Mod
    Mar 8, 2012 at 23:07
  • 2
    What edge case is that? A time machine? The package is gone, there's no historical value there whatsoever.
    – Jorge Castro
    Mar 12, 2012 at 20:14
  • 1
    Is there any way, to make the answer deleted (or make hidden) without cutting reputation from the answerer? Because, It was a correct answer (a long ago) and we should not cut reputation which the answerer gained by doing research and providing a correct answer.
    – Anwar
    May 15, 2012 at 2:25
  • Post it as separate quesation :),Dont ask questions in answer section
    – Tachyons
    May 15, 2012 at 3:39

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
10

Option 3, we should be a resource that is as correct and useful as possible.

Having archives of information that doesn't work doesn't really help anybody and having those answer there just clutters up the site.

7
  • 5
    When deleting these, especially with 30+ votes, you should give the person answering a little bit of time to improve the answer, having told them in the comments that it's wrong.
    – Stefano Palazzo
    Mar 6, 2012 at 21:19
  • 2
    I left a comment there in December.
    – Jorge Castro
    Mar 6, 2012 at 21:23
  • I agree with Jorge's view on this however I also agree with Stefano. It is only fair to give the users some time.
    – Octavian Helm
    Mar 7, 2012 at 7:16
  • 1
    Answers should be reviewed before allowing them to be displayed to everyone as in the case of edits. If the community doesn't take similar measures, ask ubuntu is bound to loose reputation over time. Reviewing every answer is a difficult job, but quality is what matters the most.
    – adnan kamili
    Mar 7, 2012 at 16:50
  • @adnankamili Let aside that this is not possible and feasible how do you think would that solve this problem?
    – Octavian Helm
    Mar 9, 2012 at 6:31
  • I only proposed a preventive measure not a solution, i don't have any idea how many community members are there
    – adnan kamili
    Mar 10, 2012 at 8:25
  • We don't all use the same version of Ubuntu. Some of those outdated answers are still valid and will be for years. If there isn't a way to preserve them that work could be lost, and we'll be doomed to repeat it.
    – Argyle
    May 19, 2012 at 4:27
6

I was being too condescended, that all thing should be deleted.

Its mostly wrong, there is no useful information to merge to the main post and the user should have taken care of that a long time ago. Locking it "for historical reasons" only means that the post will stay there visible to all -would be the same as its current state except it cannot be fixed by the user or down voted by anyone else-, down voting does not seem to work, it has only 2 down votes in total and 1 is mine (why are people afraid to down vote content?).

Kill it, its all wrong and out dated information anyways, but that should be done by the community and not a moderator -1 kill shot- any user with 10k+ can vote the all post to be deleted, if that is the will of the community then we should not be afraid to do so.

5
  • 2
    +1 actually this is a superb answer - I fully agree. If the community wants this question or answer(s) to go - use your delete votes.
    – fossfreedom Mod
    Mar 7, 2012 at 14:13
  • There are only 15 non moderator 10k+ users right now. It's quite possible that most will miss this question. If you want this question to be deleted by community vote, your should probably poke them.
    – Javier Rivera
    Mar 8, 2012 at 9:51
  • users duly poked...
    – fossfreedom Mod
    Mar 8, 2012 at 23:08
  • @fossfreedom Be patient young one, be patient.
    – Bruno Pereira
    Mar 8, 2012 at 23:08
  • ... its been a long time since someone called me young :)
    – fossfreedom Mod
    Mar 8, 2012 at 23:10
2

My suggestion would be as follows:

  • We have the right to edit any out dated content if the person who posted no longer updates it. In the case of open questions, then we should just exercise this right.

  • In the case (as with this case) of a closed question, we should take step 2 first, and then leave a comment asking the person to update (if they have been active within a month or so).

  • Finally, take action 3, as we really don't want to keep such things around.

    • If the person stands to lose a load of rep, well then we may have to exercise the right to edit if it is not a major edit (such as a package rename or such).
    • Otherwise, our hands are tied (if the person has not been active within a reasonable time, and we should just go ahead and delete.
1

Down vote, easy pie. Outdated content that is incorrect should be down voted, if possible leave a comment on why you did so and move on.

You cannot in a good sense delete the question / answers but you can use the tools of the site to leave your opinion: "This answer is not useful" -as written on the down vote tip-, down vote it, leave a comment, move on.

Each one of us is responsible for the content we publish and take responsibility for keeping it updated. The lack of that does not help anyone and should be down voted.

7
  • 1
    ... hmmm... you would need 30 downvotes for the accepted answer. That's unheard of!
    – fossfreedom Mod
    Mar 6, 2012 at 22:42
  • me, you, that's 2. You cannot delete those answers in a good way, if down voting is a method that is not working as it should in AU then I would say locking the post down with your moderator super powers is the way to go, but that only means the answer is still there visible and findable in using any search engine.
    – Bruno Pereira
    Mar 6, 2012 at 22:45
  • If we merged the questions the correct answer and the wrong answer would compete in the same question and the correct answer would be on top.
    – Jorge Castro
    Mar 6, 2012 at 22:57
  • @JorgeCastro Good call but there is no accepted answer on the correct thread, would that not mean that a 30+ answer would be on top of the 50+ answer on the correct thread?
    – Bruno Pereira
    Mar 6, 2012 at 23:01
  • 1
    Does merging automatically inherit an accepted answer? The question in question is already a duplicate. Anyway, "let them fight it out and let the community decide" might be preferable to some people vs. outright deletion.
    – Jorge Castro
    Mar 6, 2012 at 23:06
  • 2
    It is probably better to consider this information outdated. The "solution" will almost certainly be a blend of updating posts, merging duplicates, and in some cases deleting inaccurate information, depending on the "quality of the question (poor quality being isolated questions that do not affect many users). +1 to asking the community to support these questions with updated information, deleting as a last resort.
    – Panther
    Mar 7, 2012 at 1:25
  • 3
    @bodhi.zazen When the Java packages were changed we did all that. We totally overhauled most of the java questions, and for a while having the Oracle and Sun Java questions be separate made sense, it seems that this is the remaining problem question.
    – Jorge Castro
    Mar 7, 2012 at 13:26
0

I think a lot of this particular question cruxes on people wanting to use ubuntu only packages. I'm all for the addition of more pseudo-packages in the repos that pull in dependencies to make command sets work for longer out of the box. If there is no pseudo-package to pull something in and it's a vendor specific repo, I think that generates kind of a new category. Just my 2 cents. It's not a fix, but a reasonable commentary on the problem so maybe it gets noticed.

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