Overzealous deletion of answers

Question

I recently answered https://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/q/1721/263 with an admittedly too short answer. I received a couple of downvotes and some comments asking me to improve on the answer.

So I did. Then I wrote a somewhat lengthy reply to the comments, and was planning to proceed to edit my answer a second time. I did not get that far however. In fact, I was not even able to post my comment reply. Gilles had deleted my answer, 28 minutes after me posting it, 1 minute after my first edit as well as 1 minute after their own comment asking me to improve on the answer.

Had I been given the extra 60 seconds needed for me to participate in the discussion, I am sure we could have ended up with a reasonably well-formed answer despite the glaring shortcomings of the question.

What is the rationale behind deleting answers without giving users any time at all to improve on them?

Answer 1

Oftentimes, we can do a better job explaining how and why this site works the way it does, and what specifically can be done to correct these missteps which, frankly, we fully expect users to fall into.

Deletions are "soft" on this this site, and this community tends to err towards removing stuff from view that doesn't quite meet the requirements of a "qualified" answer. This is largely to abate a lot of the vaguely supported answers, guessing, and spammy content that will lessen the effectiveness of this site. But that means…

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Or more specifically — with such a strict editorial policy, this community has an even greater responsibility to do so with big doses of thoughtful and meticulous guidance.

We need a community that understands (and accepts) that many newcomers are likely NOT going to get this site the first time they post. Don't make that a bad experience. The way we, as a community, demonstrate good faith in our actions is by telling the user exactly why their post was withdrawn, how to improve their post… and how to restore their post if and when they add the missing information.

For example:

Thank you for your answer. While your recommendation may be a good solution, we ask that answers include sufficient detail to show how it solves the requirements of the question, and describe how this is the best choice for the author specifically. If you feel this post can be improved, please feel free to edit your answer and 'flag' it for moderator attention. Thanks, and good luck!

Rubber-stamping posts with over-repeated catch phrases like "does not meet out quality standards" is going to make us look like a bunch of persnickety control freaks. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but we have to remember that we're the odd man out here — that this is a strange place with somewhat unfathomable rules (even by Stack Exchange standards) that seem almost designed to intentionally trip up the unwary.

The best way to formulate your guidance is to pretend these rules are all new and fresh and just invented yesterday (because to most folks, they have been). Try not to get too comfortable and expect everyone just to "know" what is going on here. Refrain from sniping at users irritably. Don't assume every new user has read your faq and poured through the reams of meta discussions. Because they haven't.

Assume, instead, that every day is the first day of school for everyone. It will help mitigate a lot of these misunderstandings… and justify the maze rules you are creating here; all to help everyone have a better experience the next time around.

Answer 2

I was alerted to your answer by a flag. While I was reading your answer, I was notified that you'd edited it. I read your updated answer, and it still fell well short of the guidelines (largely in that it was a short, generic description of the software). So I left a comment to let you know that your answer was not suitable in its present form and suggesting how you could improve it.

You have all the time you want to improve your answer. You can edit your deleted answer at any time and flag it for undeletion. Or, if you prefer, you can post a new answer.