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Today it happened again that I wanted to post an answer to a question, which all of you know can take some time to write, but some minutes ago the question had been deleted by the owner.

For the (currently) few who can see the deleted question which IMO is on topic regardless of the OP stating:

I have the following code, I know it's inefficient because sporadically it throws an OutOfMemoryException due to the ToArray() call".

I had been tempted to hit the "undelete" button but hadn't been sure when to undelete a question.

When should one undelete a question which was deleted by the owner of that question?

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    \$\begingroup\$ A broader version of the discussion, but relevant \$\endgroup\$
    – SuperBiasedMan
    Commented Dec 9, 2015 at 12:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks @SuperBiasedMan I didn't find that question while I searched for one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Heslacher
    Commented Dec 9, 2015 at 12:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ Is there be a way to ask the owner of the question if they want the question undeleted? \$\endgroup\$
    – 13aal
    Commented Dec 14, 2015 at 14:36

2 Answers 2

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Questions should be undeleted when they provide value to the site. Deletion can be done in error or overzealously (especially if people erroneously indicate to an OP that their question is off topic). Undeleting to reverse an error seems perfectly fair if it's clearly an error.

Undeleting because you disagree or think the concerns of the deleter are invalid are less clear cut. If your opinions on the code differ that doesn't necessarily mean that your interpretation is accurate. If it at all seems like a grey area then it would be safer to flag for a mod, stating your opinion and seeing if they agree that the question has value.

In this case, it seems that a question sounded like it was off topic and the OP jumped the gun on deletion. The OP likely doesn't know the site rules as well as a 10k+ user, so it's worth undeleting to resurrect the question and clarify that they were misinformed.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I am downvoting because I think "Questions should be undeleted when they provide value to the site." would result in too many undeletions. \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg Mod
    Commented Dec 9, 2015 at 18:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SimonForsberg Really? I don't have access to deleted questions or site stats any more, but my impression was that few questions got deleted on here and that most deletions were answers that straight up weren't actual answers. \$\endgroup\$
    – SuperBiasedMan
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 11:19
  • \$\begingroup\$ but answers are not questions. So, how is that related to your statement about "Questions should be undeleted when they provide value to the site"? \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg Mod
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 11:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SimonForsberg I probably worded that confusingly. I thought most deleted posts on the site were answers, and that few questions were deleted that weren't clearly off topic. \$\endgroup\$
    – SuperBiasedMan
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 11:46
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In the case that a user suddenly decides that they don't want their code on our site and hits the delete button(link), that means they don't want their code on our site. if they did it in error they can always choose to undelete it using the undelete button(link). If it was deleted by the community in error, that is an entirely different case and the community must decide on that specific question, whether it should be undeleted.

If a user has deleted their question (or answer) it should be left deleted.

There are other ways of letting the user know that they didn't have to delete their question, but forcing it on them is not the answer.

Rage Deleting is probably the only reason why I would undelete posts that were deleted by the poster

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