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There are two upvoted answers to this question* (mine and someone else's). While the user appears to have been removed and the question has a -3 score, it seems that these answers are productive and address a question which someone might like to have answered in the future.

It appears that it was automatically deleted by Community, but it's not clear why.

My recollection** is that this user posted a number of relatively poor questions, some of which people endeavored to answer, many of which rapidly accumulated downvotes. If it's the case that this user's posts are being purged by the Community bot, it seems like we should make an effort to curate the questions which have high-quality answers even if the question itself is poor.

*If you're not able to view this question, it could be because you do not have sufficient reputation to view deleted posts.

**Since the user is removed, we can't see the historical aliases, but I think I know who the user was based on context.

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    $\begingroup$ See: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/199860/…. It seems when a user account is deleted their negatively voted questions are automatically deleted - even if they've got upvoted answers. We'll have to think what to do. $\endgroup$
    – Scortchi Mod
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ Ok, that answers the "why" portion of my question. The "what should we do" portion seems to be unresolved -- FWIW, I've voted to undelete the question. More broadly, I think that we should undertake a curation of this user's questions because the user asked quite a few, some of which may be of interest to posterity. $\endgroup$
    – Sycorax Mod
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 16:59
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    $\begingroup$ Oh! we can just undelete them. Sorry, I was for some reason thinking it'd be more complicated. I'll look to see what others there are - probably tomorrow now. $\endgroup$
    – Scortchi Mod
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 17:01
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    $\begingroup$ Found just a few with upvoted answers & I've undeleted them. For those who don't remember, this user asked very brief, usually unclear, questions with almost no research effort at a very high rate - several a day - & was often rude to anyone who suggested a different approach. Their persistence in this behaviour led to their questions' attracting plenty of down-votes; nonetheless some users were able to riff on a few of them & write answers worth preserving. $\endgroup$
    – Scortchi Mod
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 17:21
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    $\begingroup$ @Scortchi Thank you for doing that. Since the user profile is deleted, it's not obvious to me how to go through and find the user's questions except when I answered a deleted question and lost reputation upon its deletion. $\endgroup$
    – Sycorax Mod
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 17:30
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    $\begingroup$ @Scortchi "I remember it well" !!! (Gigi 1958) $\endgroup$
    – Nick Cox
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 17:56
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    $\begingroup$ Even some of the comments in that thread are worth keeping around. $\endgroup$
    – Glen_b Mod
    Commented Jan 17, 2017 at 21:47
  • $\begingroup$ @Sycorax: stats.stackexchange.com/users/46925 (unless that's moderator-only). $\endgroup$
    – Scortchi Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2017 at 12:03
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    $\begingroup$ @Scortchi the URL doesn't work for me so I suppose it's a Mod-only feature. $\endgroup$
    – Sycorax Mod
    Commented Jan 18, 2017 at 12:48

1 Answer 1

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When a user account is deleted their negatively voted questions are automatically deleted—even if they've got upvoted answers. There's a (currently open) feature request to change this: A question should not be deleted by the user deletion algorithm if it has upvoted answers. But it's just an ordinary deletion: if you can see the deleted question (you need the 'Access to Moderator Tools' privilege), then you can vote to undelete it. For now, at least, it's best to alert a diamond moderator, who'll be able to quickly find & undelete all the questions with upvoted answers.

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