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Something peculiar has just happened. A week ago a 300 point bounty has been added to this question (I think its content is hardly relevant to this meta question) [note: the bounty was added by a user other than the OP of the question]. I have looked at the question now and noticed something greatly peculiar - some new contributor has posted an answer stating the problem is open, the answer was upvoted and awarded the bounty, and just two minutes later the answer was deleted. The account has existed for 43 days so it doesn't seem to have been created just for the purpose, but the timing suggests this has been all planned by the bounty creator.

What could be the point of this? Is this behavior acceptable?

I don't want to assume malicious intent here, and deleted posts don't give reputation anyway so it might not be much of a concern, but I'm curious to better understand the situation and wanted to bring it to the community's attention and see how they would view it.

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    $\begingroup$ I think a relevant information is that the bounty was given by another user (not by OP, whose MO account is closed — I don't know whether it was already closed 1 hour ago but this is probably irrelevant). $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Oct 9, 2020 at 12:50
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    $\begingroup$ This very user ho67gy currently has 0 question and 0 answer, but it would be useful to know whether this user has many deleted contributions (this is unfortunately not available except maybe for mods)? I'd view any post written on the only purpose to delete it as a misuse. Also, I think you might flag to moderators with a link to this discussion, if not already done. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Oct 9, 2020 at 12:54
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    $\begingroup$ Link to the offerer of the bounty's profile and bounties from this user Browsing through them I haven't detected any other similar fact. $\endgroup$
    – YCor
    Oct 9, 2020 at 17:45
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, there have been similar shenanigans in the past (over a year ago). Thanks for bringing this to attention, Wojowu. $\endgroup$
    – Todd Trimble Mod
    Oct 9, 2020 at 21:42
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    $\begingroup$ Possibly related weird behavior: mathoverflow.net/questions/373127/… It looks like "Community" is awarding a bounty on this question (which was posted by the same bounty-offerer "JoeT," who now seems to have a deleted account?) $\endgroup$ Oct 10, 2020 at 23:37
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    $\begingroup$ @SamHopkins That is explained in the FAQ: How does the bounty system work?: "What happens if I delete my account while I have an active bounty? The bounty will just be moved to (owned) by the Community user and will be awarded automatically at the end of the period as they normally would." This post is given as the source: Bounties from deleted accounts should still be awarded; al least, the indicator should be removed $\endgroup$ Oct 12, 2020 at 9:37

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