I do not understand why a perfectly valid question I asked is getting downvoted:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17275214/is-it-allowed-in-html5-to-wrap-a-li-inside-an-a-tag/
Please delete the question as the website doesn't allow me to.
2 Answers
Your question was downvoted because it didn't show any research effort (check the downvote tooltip). Had you done a bit of Googling or used a validator, the answer would have been clear to you. I believe you got further flak on this because, as a high reputation user, you probably should know this by now.
Stack Overflow has policies that optimize for good questions; keeping the site interesting and engaging. Basic questions that can be answered by a quick Google don't really add to the site.
I suggest you read How To Ask to prevent this from happening in the future.
The reason you can't delete it is because it already has upvoted answers. To me, the question and answers are rather trivial, so I wouldn't mind it being deleted. However, people have put some effort into answering it (and have gotten reputation for it), so it may be wrong to deny them that.
answered Jun 24, 2013 at 13:06
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4I’m sorry, but this is not what I was told. StackOverflow was originally explicitly claimed to welcome any and all questions, even basic ones, in order to be a repository of useful questions. I noticed that this exact question wasn’t already on SO, so I asked it. Since I now learned that this is no longer the case and that users are expected to find the answer elsewhere, that is exactly what I will do in future, and SO suffers accordingly.– TimwiCommented Jun 24, 2013 at 19:10
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@Timwi
[citation needed]. I don't recall reading that anywhere :/ Commented Jun 24, 2013 at 19:12 -
1It doesn’t matter. With the new attitude, StackOverflow will obviously be less useful. If that is what you guys want, then so be it.– TimwiCommented Jun 24, 2013 at 19:14
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5Erm - this isn't a new attitude, Timwi. It has always been aimed at being a place for quality questions and answers, not any questions and answers/ Commented Jun 24, 2013 at 19:35
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@Timwi Sure, if that's what you think. I somehow doubt that. Also what Rory said. Commented Jun 24, 2013 at 19:37
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@Manishearth see the example at How do I move the turtle in LOGO? and the citation at Podcast #58 to at least point out that SO was contended by some (semi-official?) parties as allowing very simple easily researchable questions 4 years ago. I'm still surprised that meta users don't see how confusing this whole category is for SO users given that...– jballCommented Jun 25, 2013 at 19:22
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2@jball Note the date. And that it's closed+locked. Policy has evolved, at least a bit. And the point in the podcast was about basic questions(which are allowed), not easily researchable ones (which are not), though the LOGO question was both. I'm not so sure on SO, but on Physics I can give examples of basic questions that are not easily researchable. Commented Jun 25, 2013 at 19:29
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@Manishearth I understand that it's an old post. The first two comments in this thread are talking about historical positions, not current. And I'm not really trying to debate the nuances what should and shouldn't be allowed, just pointing out the facts that have lead to the current confusion in the minds of some users. As you concede, the turtle question is an easily researched one, so it doesn't preclude the confusion, but rather was part of what has created said confusion.– jballCommented Jun 25, 2013 at 20:13
It may be possible to disassociate the question from your account - can't say for sure, but the top answer to How do I remove my name from a post, in accordance with CC:WIKI? suggests so.
I've been in this situation before (where I'm not allowed to delete a question I don't like) and it sucks. That is seriously messed up. It is messed up to be told "you've made a mistake, but you aren't allowed to undo it; sorry buddy but you're going to have to sit through this beating".
I say this question should be disassociated from the author's account if it cannot be deleted. No civilised community would tell someone he screwed up but prevent the mistake being corrected, forcing one to endure its consequences.
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6Alternatively, get over it, it's just rep. Nobody is taking a "beating". Commented Jun 24, 2013 at 14:51
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Definitely possible. As far as I know, the content license even requires SE staff to comply with such requests.– a catCommented Jun 24, 2013 at 16:00
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Yes, it is messed up, but it's not like the team will refuse requests to disassociate posts either; in fact, we're more than happy to do that. We just don't want to delete questions whose answers are worth keeping, but it's the responsibility of the asker to state their request clearly so we know to do exactly what they're looking for. Commented Jun 24, 2013 at 16:30
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@meagar The rep loss is indeed irrelevant, but having 30 people thumb-down you is psychologically quite a beating.– RomanStCommented Jun 24, 2013 at 17:27
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@romkyns Note that he gained 20 rep over-all from the question. It's only now that the question is deleted that he's actually lost rep. Commented Jun 24, 2013 at 17:30
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@meagar Glad to see that it got deleted. As I said, I suspect the rep is irrelevant here, judging from my own past experience in a similar situation.– RomanStCommented Jun 24, 2013 at 17:36
I do not understand why a perfectly valid question I asked is getting downvoted. Like bažmegakapa and others commented:-1 - This question does not show any research effort.I would imagine that your question would be trivial to test, and combined with your high reputation, is causing quite a backlash.