Why was it deleted?
Only the deleter can correctly answer that question. It is possible it was for the disciplined badge, as the user got the badge two minutes after deleting the post. But it's also reasonable to think the user deleted an answer where part of the answer is out of date or wrong.
But how does speculating about the deleter's action improve Code Review?
Never ASSUME, because when you ASSUME, you make an ASS of U and ME
– Felix Unger (The Odd Couple Season 3 Episode My Strife in Court - Jerry Belson)
Lets assume you're right, what should we do? Should it be ok to then take from the answer? But what if your assumption is wrong? Should it then not be ok to then take from the answer? How can we prove the deleter's intent without asking the deleter?
This all just seems like the wrong route to build a site policy around. It would be far better to build site policies around things we can prove where possible.
For the sake of answering unanswered questions, is it acceptable to take content from a deleted answer to add to an answer if the deleted answer is cited/mentioned?
No, we shouldn't have special rules for unanswered questions.
Is it acceptable to take content from a deleted answer to add to an answer if the deleted answer is cited/mentioned?
This is explicitly allowed by the CC-BY SA license - the license user contributions are submitted under. Since the answer has always been under CC-BY SA 3.0 we can look at the terms of the license.
Note: this is the human readable summary of the license.
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
– Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported © Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
If all you're doing is quoting another answer then you may deem it unfair to get reputation from another person's labours. So you can make the answer a community wiki.
