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I spotted the deletion only because I forgot to close the browser tab:

https://codereview.stackexchange.com/a/134503/665

It's ridiculous that I was not notified that someone saw some issue with my answer and didn't point out what exactly I should do, but just deleted.

How many of my answers had the same fate? Should I continue to review code here while such things are happening? No way!

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I undeleted it for now, and left some comments. OP could have of course undeleted himself, but the question seems to be about "deletion without warning". (btw I'm at work and can't really answer now...) \$\endgroup\$
    – janos Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 8:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ I would prefer someone with more moderation experience talk about deletion without warning because I'm not sure how the system of flagging etc works from the perspective of someone being flagged, so my answer does not address that. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 8:12
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ 1. I could not undelete it -- it said "you can't because it was moderator who deleted it" 2. Even if I could, I would not know I can do that because of absense of any notification about deleteion -- my answer just disappeared. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:25
  • 6
    \$\begingroup\$ While I agree not getting notified is odd at best, I strongly disagree with the tone of your post. Please consider re-writing it in a more neutral, objective manner. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mast Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 10:29
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ I do express my feeling that my contribution into Codereview site is being deleted in unfair way and without my knowledge. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 12:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mast I don't see any reason to change the tone of the meta question. This is the OP's point of view, and I totally understand the concern. \$\endgroup\$
    – Simon Forsberg Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 12:06

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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\$\begingroup\$

It's very unfortunate that you have not received a notification when the post notice. We (mods) were under the impression that users receive a notification when we do this, but it seems that's not always the case. We'll work with the community managers on that.

It's also very unfortunate that you have not received a notification about the deletion of the post. Again, I find that unexpected, a very bad surprise, and we'll work with the CMs on that.

Until the notifications are improved, I propose the following workaround:

  • When adding a post notice, mods should add a helpful comment to make sure the user gets notified. Even if we have nothing better to say than repeat the post notice, it's important to trigger a notification.

  • When seeing an answer with a post notice and no comments, users should add a helpful comment to make sure the user gets notified.

  • When voting to delete an answer with no comments, mods and users alike should add a comment to make sure the user gets notified.

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\$\begingroup\$

You were already given a post notice, which was also to provide an explanation on the issue with the answer:

We are looking for answers that provide insightful observations about the code in the question. Answers that consist of independent solutions with no justification do not constitute a code review, and may be removed.

Most of your answers are very good and of the type that are accepted here, but not this one (and some similarly problematic ones have already been deleted as well). You have also been here for over five years (and even longer than me!), so you should already be aware that such answers without explanations aren't accepted. It doesn't matter how simple they are, either. Just a simple explanation will make the difference between a review and a non-answer.

The solution here should be simple: use your good existing answers as guidance for future answers and remember to provide explanations for answers like the one reported here.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ My understanding is that notice was added by @janos post undeletion? I may be reading things incorrectly here. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 8:15
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @DanPantry: I was actually the one who added it. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jamal Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 8:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ Ha, my mistake. :) Do users get notified when this notice is added to their post? \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 8:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DanPantry: I actually do not know. For mods, leaving a post notice is still quicker and delivers the same message. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jamal Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 8:18
  • \$\begingroup\$ There was no warning imgur.com/16Os7x3.jpg The downvotes I see currently appeared only after undeletion. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Nakilon that screenshot is the wrong notification list. That list shows only the reputation changes, not the messages. The list for messages is at the left of this one. There should be a message about the post notice, and another one about the deletion. At least I hope so! Can you please post the screenshot of that? \$\endgroup\$
    – janos Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ Here it is i.imgur.com/eJDQxst.jpg \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Nakilon I see :( No notification about the post notice, and no notification about the deletion. That's bad, and at least to me, completely unexpected. I'll investigate this and keep you posted. I'm at work now, so please don't expect fast results. Thank you for raising this issue. \$\endgroup\$
    – janos Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 10:05
7
\$\begingroup\$

The answer in question showed up in the low quality queue, and is not a good answer in general for Code Review. We expect code to go along with explanations and answers to not just be a code dump.

I don't know why your answer was deleted (or by whom). Answers are not regularly deleted on this site unless it becomes an issue of moderation and authors are usually given the chance to respond to any warnings (such as the one currently on your post).

Note that your answer may have been flagged for deletion because it falls under the category of "Not An Answer", which users may have elected to do because as mentioned earlier your answer does not meet appropriate standards for Code Review.

Again, this doesn't really tend to happen, only in cases of moderation or low quality. Consider addressing the notice @Jamal has added to your answers and elaborating on your answer, else it may still get flagged for deletion by other users.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How can I improve the answer if noone tell me what's wrong with it? Noone said anything concrete about what explanation they need. That code is self-explaining. If there is some hard piece of code in it, why noone pointed? Just deleting with no warning -- how can I know they didn't delete 100000 of my other answers in the same silent manner? \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ There is a notice above your question which @Jamal put there and it is quite clear what it is asking for. Additionally, according to Jamal, it was there before deletion. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ 1. The only way to see that notice was to accidentally leave the browser tab on it to see ajax after a while -- it's nonsense 2. What should I do with the "please, explain"? Should I append "I am an Explanation, have a good time." line to my answer? It's not clear what you are asking! Even more unclear than for example the questions that are being deleted for the reason of "unclear..." \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 9:36
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @Nakilon I totally see your frustration and I agree that you should be notified if your post was marked for deletion. My answer mainly deals with the fact that, as it stands, your answer is considered low quality because there are no explanations for your review. The fact that your answer didn't notify you is a completely separate issue. The justification that you would be repeating Flambino's points is IMO not a justification at all. Either you can explain your review, or you haven't written one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dan
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 11:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ I've added the explanation to my answer, that "my code differs from his one right here", but 1) it does not "explain" anything and can not do that because the code is always self-explaining 2) deleting the answer because of being marked as bad only because of static markdown analyzing is fatal for the answer, because Codereview site brings attention to the answer only in first hours, and then the answer is rarely being referred from Google, so the answerer just loses the chance to get attention. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nakilon
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 12:09
  • 5
    \$\begingroup\$ @Nakilon speaking of search engine optimization... I think code + explanation is likely to get better search engine rankings than just code without explanation. So adding some explanation ("it's better to do this way because ...") will be a win-win for everyone. \$\endgroup\$
    – janos Mod
    Commented Jul 11, 2016 at 12:36

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