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I'm new here (the 100 rep is due to my other account(s) on SE), though I'm not new to SE.

Why was my answer (an answer to Why is the misspelling of "its" (possessive) so widespread?) deleted? The main point of my answer is that its really should have been it's, something that the asker seems unaware of. As for the numbered questions - should a detailed explained answer be given to each one of them? They seem secondary to the main question. Or is (attempted) humor frowned upon here?

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Also, I think that in StackOverflow, deleting an answer (as opposed to downvoting) is usually reserved for spam/offensive language /etc. Is it different here?

(And by the way, the question there was marked as a duplicate of quite a different question. It does not look like a duplicate at all.)

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  • The "my answer" link just links to the page. Users below a certain rep cannot see deleted answers. You can screenshot it and post the image, though.
    – Hank
    May 17, 2017 at 13:43
  • @Hank Done. Thanks. (It had 2 upvotes at first. I assume it also got a downvote.)
    – ispiro
    May 17, 2017 at 13:46
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    RegDwight is probably the best person to answer this but that answer is very poorly written when it comes to not just its structure and organization, but also it's content. No offense.
    – Hank
    May 17, 2017 at 13:49
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    To explain my fairly harsh comment above, I mainly mean the numbered section. That's not a very readable and informative section. Simple yes and no doesn't bode well here; you have to explain your answers more.
    – Hank
    May 17, 2017 at 13:56
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    I might as well make my plea here. Please Josh undelete your answer. If my two comments annoyed you, and compelled you to delete your answer, I apologise.
    – Mari-Lou A
    May 17, 2017 at 14:11
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    @ispiro In a nutshell, agree that the duplicate question is quite different from delavnog's. I cast my vote to close his Q because it is POB: primarily opinion-based. As to why your answer was deleted, I'm afraid only RegDwight can answer that, but my guess is that it seems to be only expressing your opinion, an idea, it lacks solid evidence whereas Josh's answer is made of several reputable references, but lacks that personal analysis and summary.
    – Mari-Lou A
    May 17, 2017 at 14:19
  • @Hank The numbered questions are mainly opinion/guess-based. I originally didn't even answer them. But perhaps you're right that that was the reason.
    – ispiro
    May 17, 2017 at 15:00
  • @ispiro We can only speculate at this point.
    – Hank
    May 17, 2017 at 15:02
  • @Mari-LouA Unless someone actually did research, asking people why they made this mistake, which I doubt anyone has, the answer to this question is bound to be opinion based.
    – ispiro
    May 17, 2017 at 15:04
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    I couldn't make any sense of what you wrote. It could easily have been flagged as 'low quality' and then reviewers could recommend to delete or mods delete if they agree.
    – Mitch
    May 17, 2017 at 17:10

1 Answer 1

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I assume it's because your answer starts with "I assume it's because", and that shows that it's only your assumption, and we don't welcome assumptions in the answer box on the main ELU site. Try the comments box instead, and that we don't usually mind.

As far as I know, what you wrote after "as far as I know" is unclear, to me, at least. Try quoting relevant portion of the question inside your answer or, better yet, write sentences, not simply yeses and nos.

One of my canned comments for poor answers is this:

Please explain your answer, preferably with some supporting statements and references. While opinions are valued, they are not of much help as answers.

I welcome you to ELU, and I'm sure you’ll get the hang of it after a while.

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  • a) Thanks. b) Your comment would have been more welcome than my answer being deleted. Now I can't even improve my answer. As for the "as far as I know" part - I didn't really answer that part at first. It doesn't seem like it needs answers besides the main answer.
    – ispiro
    May 17, 2017 at 17:26
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    @ispiro Consider revising your deleted answer and then raising a flag requesting undeletion. It's all undoable.
    – MetaEd
    May 17, 2017 at 21:01
  • @MetaEd Thanks. Question revised, and flag raised.
    – ispiro
    May 18, 2017 at 11:38
  • Thanks! My revised answer got undeleted. (And thanks for the formatting.) And thank you, @MetaEd◆, for that.
    – ispiro
    May 19, 2017 at 15:37

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