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I don't like having them there taunting me. I find them to be useless if they are closed.

Is there a way to delete the questions I've asked that were closed?

3 Answers 3

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Normally, you'd be able to delete 48 hours after they were closed. But since your questions have answers, this won't work.

Flag each for moderator attention, and ask that it be deleted. Assuming there's no obvious reason why the question should stick around, the mods should be happy to oblige. If you take the time to explain why you want the post removed, you also stand a better chance of getting what you want (this pretty much goes for all moderator flags).

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  • To notice that "should be happy to oblige" doesn't mean they will surely do it; this is my experience in other SE sites.
    – apaderno
    Jul 13, 2011 at 11:13
  • @kia: as I said, assuming there's no obvious reason why they shouldn't. Cleaning up trash is something moderators should be doing anyway.
    – Shog9
    Jul 13, 2011 at 15:20
  • I have a trashy question on an SE site, but it has not been deleted. By trashy, I mean that all the question has obtained is comments such as "you are blind," or "buy new eyeglasses," or "change browser"; the problem I reported is then not actual anymore, as the font size issue I was reporting has been fixed ages ago (and I didn't change browser, or changed any settings of my browswer).
    – apaderno
    Jul 13, 2011 at 15:38
  • Meta is often a special-case in these matters... That said, see my edit.
    – Shog9
    Jul 13, 2011 at 15:53
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Closing isn't a punishment. It is simply a sorting or categorical method. The closed question is still useful in the sense that other people can determine whether or not that question is on-topic, too general, etc. In the case of duplicate questions, they serve to fill an apparent gap in the searching process.

So don't think of them as taunting you. Think of them as another helpful datapoint for people who need to find an answer.

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Duplicate questions are not normally deleted, as they help other users to find a question that is probably difficult to find. I think Jeff Atwood said something about deleting duplicate questions.

Questions with answers present a problem because, if you can ask to dissociate a question with your account (which doesn't necessarily mean the question is deleted), who answered to the question has the same right given from the license used for the content on SE sites.

Said that, you can flag your questions for moderation attention, and ask to have them deleted. Keep in mind that, basing on the above (or other) considerations, they could not delete the question. In my experience with other SE sites, asking for your questions to be deleted doesn't mean they are surely deleted, even in the case those questions have a negative score.

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  • In this particular case, the user's questions were not closed as duplicates. Also, disassociation isn't really a problem for the answerers - but it does tend to be an indication of more serious problems with either the question itself, or the user who asked it.
    – Shog9
    Jul 13, 2011 at 15:23
  • I didn't say they were duplicated questions; I added that to complete the answer, just in case the same user would ask that his duplicated questions are removed. My point that who wrote the question is just one of the involved users; who answered should also be able to opt, if there aren't more important reasons that are relative to the site where the question is asked, not the user who asked the question. There are questions that are deleted from a site, but for the benefit of the site, not of who asked the question.
    – apaderno
    Jul 13, 2011 at 15:30
  • yes, questions closed as duplicate are, or at least can be, a special case. Questions closed as duplicates with valuable answers can also be merged... But in all cases where the author cannot delete his own post, it ends up being the decision of a moderator or other trusted community members - for the purpose of a user trying to clean up his own profile, it's best if the user simply flags and leaves it in their hands.
    – Shog9
    Jul 13, 2011 at 15:47
  • I have flagged my closed questions, hopefully for the sake of all that is good and just, they will be deleted.
    – OghmaOsiris
    Jul 13, 2011 at 19:02

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