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I recently gave a simple counter example to a question posed (I'm sure the mods can see the question). Probably the user was embarrassed by this. The question was promptly deleted and with that my answer.

I do not really care for my answer that much in this case (maybe the correct procedure was to close the question as it was not really research level). I do not think this is acceptable behaviour by the question poser.

What is the community stance on this?

Is it possible to allow questions with answers to be deleted only if the answerer (or a moderator) agrees?

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    $\begingroup$ A question with an upvoted answer cannot be deleted by the OP. But as long as the answer has score 0, it can. $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl Mod
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 14:25
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    $\begingroup$ @StefanKohl I'd guess it is the question Embedded homology sphere. And for low-rep users like me, here is link to the version in the Google Cache. (I am not sure for how long cached version of a removed page remains available.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 16:45
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    $\begingroup$ I had exactly the same experience a few times. The only reason I learned about it was that the easiest way to answer one of new questions was just to refer to one of my old posts and, to my surprise, I couldn't find it anymore with regular search. I don't know what might be the reason for the deletion (it was a completely legitimate question and I gave a completely reasonable answer to it), but it was deleted by the OP nevertheless. IMHO such behavior should be discouraged, but I don't really care enough to try to attract any attention to it :-) $\endgroup$
    – fedja
    Commented Dec 16, 2017 at 21:12
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    $\begingroup$ @fedja Re: to my surprise, I couldn't find it anymore with regular search. In case it is useful in the future, I'll mention that 10k+ users can search among their own deleted post if they include deleted:1 in the search. For more details, see: Can I somewhere see my own deleted questions? and Is there any way to see my deleted questions or answers? $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 6:41
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    $\begingroup$ Although I understand the sentiment, it's possible that "Why would you think this is true?" would add to the embarrassment. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble Mod
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 13:17
  • $\begingroup$ @ToddTrimble: Thank you, you are right. I've removed this comment. $\endgroup$
    – Thomas Rot
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 17:28
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    $\begingroup$ @StefanKohl: I did not know that, and that does make me worry less about the fact that questions with answers can be deleted. $\endgroup$
    – Thomas Rot
    Commented Dec 17, 2017 at 17:28
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    $\begingroup$ I can confirm from my own experience that this seems to be a common occurrence on the site (I find it unacceptable too and outright rude). I suspect the OP's motivation is not always as honorable as "avoid public embarrassment." For example, maybe you just answered a HW problem or gave crucial help in an assigned project, and the OP wishes to leave no evidence. $\endgroup$
    – Christian Remling
    Commented Dec 18, 2017 at 0:44
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    $\begingroup$ @ChristianRemling: And the "can delete when zero upvotes" leaves an opening for it. A user can ask a question, camp out on the page, and delete as soon as it gets an answer, before anyone has a chance to upvote. They get their homework solution, evidence is concealed, and nobody else gets to benefit from the answerer's knowledge. Definitely not something the system should encourage. $\endgroup$
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 22:43
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    $\begingroup$ @ThomasRot I think it makes sense to add the feature-request tag $\endgroup$
    – მამუკა ჯიბლაძე
    Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 8:39
  • $\begingroup$ @NateEldredge: Indeed, now that you say it, I do remember that in at least one of the cases I had in mind, my answer was greeted with almost instantaneous deletion of the question. $\endgroup$
    – Christian Remling
    Commented Dec 21, 2017 at 19:37
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    $\begingroup$ Note that changing the rule to "opener can delete if there is an answer with score -1" is also not an appropriate fix, because the opener can downvote the answer and then delete. $\endgroup$
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Dec 22, 2017 at 9:50
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    $\begingroup$ That is a plugiarisme , the OP here probably seek for proof to him question for publishing it as a thesis or any paper in refeered journal . this is what i think .Here should for Mo to add some tecknic to forbide this behavior $\endgroup$
    – zeraoulia rafik
    Commented Jan 8, 2018 at 22:14
  • $\begingroup$ Related: meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/3798/deleted-answered-question $\endgroup$
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 13:07
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    $\begingroup$ I just opened a feature request post on Meta Stack Exchange: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/312315/… $\endgroup$
    – Federico Poloni
    Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 13:23

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