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Today I was looking for the meaning of 'Roger' in radio conversation then I found this question. What's strange is that it is marked as a duplicate of What does “Roger” mean in war movies?, but this question has been removed!

This subject has already been discussed in StackOverflow's Meta, but I'm not sure what should be done to the duplicate question (of no other, currently). Should it be also removed? Should it cease to be a duplicate (is that even possible)? Leave everything is it is now?

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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At the time it was marked as a duplicate, it was a duplicate. The system has been amended to inhibit the deletion of such questions (that is, target questions can no longer be deleted).

The only way to remove the duplicate label is to re-open the question; but since it already has relevant and correct answers, and it would simply be closed again as general reference, there's no point.

In fact, the "removed" question is still there, although it's not shown to those without the Access to moderator tools privilege (that's 10,000 rep), so that label does serve some useful purpose.

There may an argument for deleting the question that's still there, although its presence did presumably stop you asking a similar one!

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    What bothers me is the message in the end of the question: This question has been asked before and already has an answer., but then I click on the answer and I get a Page Not Found! Can´t the duplicated notice be removed from this question, as it is the only public accessible question (and answer) on this subject?
    – gmauch
    Jan 16, 2017 at 13:54
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    It's not the only publicly accessible question. The other question is available to members with sufficient rep. If people want to vote to reopen it they can (requires 3k rep), but it will simply be closed as GR. The answers you can see reproduce the answers on the other question.
    – Andrew Leach Mod
    Jan 16, 2017 at 14:01
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    Well, by publicly I meant the majority that has not sufficient rep to see removed answers, but my point is, as it stands, people (with not enough rep) will see a question marked as duplicate of an inexistent one. Even though the answers provided there are good enough (at least solved my doubt), I see no point in having the "duplicate" in the title of the question, in a box before it and also after it. If the duplicated can't be removed, then, there's not much to be done, but if it is possible, would be a good measure, IMHO.
    – gmauch
    Jan 16, 2017 at 14:13
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    But why was a question that had attracted 32 upvotes, and answers that had earned 44, 33, 12 and 3 upvotesn, posted within one minute of each other (!) deleted in the first place? "Comments are ephemeral" is bleated until our ears bleed. Yes... quite.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Jan 16, 2017 at 17:41
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    I undeleted the target question, but left it closed. That should help future visitors.
    – Kit Z. Fox Mod
    Jan 16, 2017 at 18:20
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    @KitZ.Fox Welcome back!! Hope you're feeling well!
    – Dan Bron
    Jan 16, 2017 at 22:01

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