can you delete a question you asked?
i just changed this question from flagging because i realized i already asked, but can you delete one of your questions you ask?
5 Answers
Under the old system the author of the original question had the ability to delete his entire discussion. I recall a thread where someone complained to the authors of threads for deleting their discussion after they had received the answer that they were seeking. The complaint, obviously, was that other members didn't get to share the benefits from the answers provided. They may have removed that feature. I'll try to find an old post of mine and see if I get a delete option. I just went to a question that I had posted a few days ago. I tried to edit the question and there was no delete option as there was under the old site. I suppose now that you could follow Eddy's suggestions and just delete the text of you question and mark it with "please delete this" if you had a need to remove the discussion in it's entirety.
I wouldn't do it just because I posted what turns out to be a silly or embarrassing question (as we all understand that that happens), because it's rather discourteous to the people that have made the effort to reply.
EDIT: Oops, I hadn't refreshed in a few minutes -- qfreed addressed this nicely in the interim.
No, you cannot delete your own question. Only moderators (i.e. Eddy and Heidita) may delete questions and answers. You can, however, delete your own comments.
Every once in a while, someone posts a duplicate question or answer, and in those cases, deleting your own posts would be a nice capability. There are (at least) two drawbacks to letting users do that, though:
- Once a question is posted and other users start answering, in some sense the question is no longer "yours" -- the larger community is invested in it. Since answers would be thrown in the trash along with the question, we'd be giving any user control over content that any other user may have posted in reply.
- Deleting (and undeleting) is an administrative task with potentially serious consequences, and it's easier to leave that power in the hands of a select few.
Of course, there are drawbacks to our current system, too, but at the moment we feel content with the way the system works. (As Eddy said, you can always ask a moderator to delete a post on those rare occasions when it seems necessary.) Feedback is, as always, welcome.
To add to Toph´s and qfreed´s posts, as a further clarification.
If a member were to delete their post and then add "please delete this" Heidi and I would only delete,
1) If it is the main thread question and hadn´t received any answers. The thread would disappear but no information is lost.
2) If it is a post within the question. We would just delete the post and not the whole thread. The remaining information is retained.
As Toph says, once a question has been answered, as such, it is no longer the poster´s property.
I believe you can go into your post under "edit" and just remove the question. Most members then type in delete please. When Heidi or I see this we will delete it. I am sure you have an edit facility on your posts. Please let me know if you do have edit as my page is different to yours.
ok i get it now...i was also just reading about this on another discussion....i do not wish to be discourteous to anyone. thank you
