tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Deleting own post, getting points)

Harry Gindi comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5618)

2010-05-19T02:00:28-07:00

Dear buzzard,

Yes, this is why I noted that your comment was substantive when I alluded to the earlier situation. I'm sorry, and I hope there are no hard feelings.

Kevin Buzzard comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5616)

2010-05-18T23:34:43-07:00

That other thread: I was annoyed with Harry because I actually invested some effort to answer his question properly (I posted a comment, which seems to have been deleted, but I also did a literature-in-my-office-search), and then when I'd collated some references I went to post an answer but he'd deleted the question, which I thought was silly (and it meant my time was wasted). But my point is this: it got undeleted and is now visibly a respectable question with respectable answers. So just because you don't think much of it, doesn't mean it won't work.

Anton Geraschenko comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5615)

2010-05-18T20:36:24-07:00

It is undeleted and you got your ten points back (and then some since I also voted the question up).

Tread lightly if someone has posted a substantive comment.

I should probably have stressed this more. In this case, I don't there there was any issue since nobody else had posted anything, but in general you have to strike a balance between how much you want the question deleted because it's embarrassing (or whatever) and how much other people will be annoyed by the deletion. Remember that deletion of a post is reversible, but people may still get jumpy if they see something they've written deleted. If a question has answers with upvotes, then the owner can't delete it.

You may be interested in some other threads on meta about deletion:
Deletion versus Correction
Should you delete a bad answer?
The "issues" thread Harry mentioned. I recommend you skip down to about here and trying to ignore any drama surrounding the question that started the thread.

Pete L. Clark comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5614)

2010-05-18T20:23:00-07:00

Indeed, the question is definitely not silly. I look forward to learning the answer.

vipul comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5613)

2010-05-18T20:01:15-07:00

@Anton: Thanks for the information. Given what you say, I think I was a little premature to delete the question. I don't have a complete solution myself, but I remembered some things about rewriting rules for presentations that I suspected would make the question straightforward. (The more I think of it, the more I figure that it probably isn't that straightforward). So I deleted the question in a hurry.

If you can undelete the question, that would be great. Thanks once again!

Harry Gindi comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5612)

2010-05-18T19:44:16-07:00

Tread lightly if someone has posted a substantive comment. There have been... how do I say.. issues, in the past.

Anton Geraschenko comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5611)

2010-05-18T19:30:24-07:00

Was it inappropriate to delete my own post?

No. I think it's fine to delete your own post if you realize that there's something seriously wrong with it, especially if there are no answers or comments (so there are no issues that you might be deleting somebody else's contribution). Though in this case, I would have left the question up. It's quite interesting and I don't immediately see how to answer it. I can't imagine anybody voting it down or otherwise objecting to it. If you don't want to be associated with it, no problem, but if you decide you want it undeleted, let me know. If I can't think of an answer, this question might start bugging me and I might post a duplicate.

Also, I think I should lose any upvote reputation points (30 based on my estimate) I got on the question

It looks like the question got one upvote before you deleted it. It could have been N upvotes and N-1 downvotes, but like I said, I'd be surprised if it got any downvotes.

When a question is deleted, you (in principle) lose any reputation your gained/lost from it, but it doesn't happen immediately. A moderator has to trigger a rep recalc on your account, or a global rep recalc has to happen (I don't think we've ever done one on MO). I just triggered a recalc on your account and you only lost 10 points. The other 20 points must have been from two other answers you gave before. When your reputation changes, you can click the little envelope next to your username to see where the change is coming from. Or you can use this link (will only work for Vipul).

vipul comments on "Deleting own post, getting points" (5609)

2010-05-18T18:10:40-07:00

So I posted a silly question (rather, a not entirely trivial question but one that I should have been able to answer myself and that was unlikely to be of interest to those who knew enoughto understand the question) and before anybody answered it or voted on it, I figured out that it was a silly question so I deleted it so as not to waste other people's time. But it seems that my reputation went up in the couple of minutes after I deleted it, without my getting up votes on any other questions or answers, so some people appear to have upvoted the question shortly after it was deleted.

Was it inappropriate to delete my own post? I was partly interested in trying to avoid it cluttering the question list for other people (community-oriented interest), but it was also partly to not be publicly associated with a silly question (selfish interest) that might lose me "reputation" in both senses of the word.

Also, I think I should lose any upvote reputation points (30 based on my estimate) I got on the question (Because if it had stayed on, it would probably have got some compensatory downvotes from the knowledgeable people). The question ID was 25190.