tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Ghost modifiers)

Pete L. Clark comments on "Ghost modifiers" (3542)

Pete L. Clark — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:26:10 -0800

@QY: Hmm, I didn't know that I could edit deleted answers. (I just confirmed that I can.) As superpowers go, it's not so exciting, but I suppose it could come in handy someday.

Tom Leinster comments on "Ghost modifiers" (3541)

Tom Leinster — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 15:02:59 -0800

Jonas, I once made that happen accidentally. I wanted to leave a comment, but I accidentally typed it into the answer box. Seeing what had happened, I immediately deleted the answer (and put the same text into a comment). But by then the question had been bumped to the top of the list, with my name attached to it.

So in this case, there would have been some sign of me, but it wouldn't have been clear to many other people why the question had been bumped up or why my name was on it.

Jonas Meyer comments on "Ghost modifiers" (3540)

Jonas Meyer — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:40:29 -0800

Ah, I hadn't thought of that. So the answer is yes to my last question. Thanks. Yes, I did look for you at that recent thread, and that is what finally triggered this question, but it is something I've wondered about before. For those with less than 10k reputation (and without moderator status), your answer leads to the related one of an old deleted answer being edited by the original poster.

It might be nice if such things didn't bring the question to the top of the front page, but I don't suppose it is frequent enough to be a problem. Tag edits, on the other hand...

http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/552/should-retagging-really-be-considered-an-edit

Qiaochu Yuan comments on "Ghost modifiers" (3539)

Qiaochu Yuan — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:24:29 -0800

Related: if X has 10k+ reputation, X can see (and therefore edit) deleted answers. (If you are referring to a certain recent thread, that is what I did to it. Caught me red-handed! And if you're wondering why, I was trying to communicate with the user who deleted the answer and had no other way to do so.)

Jonas Meyer comments on "Ghost modifiers" (3538)

Jonas Meyer — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:18:25 -0800

When user X appears as the last to modify a question, but looking over the question and its answers reveals no sign of X, what happened? Does this always mean that X deleted an answer (or had an answer deleted)? Are there other ways this can happen?