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Where can we see the closed (or deleted) questions that we asked: I finally found the answer of a question I asked, but cannot find the question anymore on my profile, nor on the website.

Either it has been closed or deleted by someone, but I never had a warning (the question even had a positive score), or it got lost when I merged my two accounts (the first one was anonymous when I first used this website (this account asked the question), the second one was with my gmail log-in) which if this was the reason for the lost question could be more complicated.

Is there a way to be sure our question was closed or deleted?

I tagged this question as "bug" since it could be a possible bug of the system.

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    $\begingroup$ Closed but not deleted questions are listed in your profile. I do not think that you can visit deleted questions (including your own questions) unless you have reputation points ≥ 10,000. $\endgroup$
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Oct 3, 2011 at 15:04
  • $\begingroup$ make this an answer Tsuyoshi ? so that the Community monster doesn't keep popping it up ? $\endgroup$
    – Suresh Venkat Mod
    Commented Oct 3, 2011 at 15:21
  • $\begingroup$ @Suresh: I was not clear enough. I am not completely sure about who can view deleted questions, and that was why I did not post it as an answer. $\endgroup$
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Oct 3, 2011 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ your "answer" is actually correct :). And on meta, we are more relaxed about answers in any case :) $\endgroup$
    – Suresh Venkat Mod
    Commented Oct 3, 2011 at 18:00

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(This is a more detailed version of my comment on the question.)

Closing and deletion are different notions. (But some closed and even non-closed questions are deleted automatically. See below.)

  • Closed but not deleted questions are listed in your profile.
  • Unless you have reputation points ≥ 10,000 or you are a moderator, you cannot view deleted questions (including your own questions which have been deleted).

There is a feature request on Meta Stack Overflow to allow a user to see his/her own questions which have been deleted, but this request was declined in June 2010.

Why are some closed (and even non-closed) questions deleted automatically?

If a question has no answers, low score, and no activity for a long time, it is deleted automatically. Closed questions tend to have low score and low activity, and therefore I imagine that they are often subject to this automatic deletion mechanism. See this post for the gory details.

See this for another reason why closed questions may be deleted earlier than the automatic deletion kicks in.

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If you can provide some specifics, the mods can look into the problem, since we can see all deleted questions.

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  • $\begingroup$ The question was about linear pogramming and complementary slackness, the only tag I used was "Linear programming" if I remember correctly. My login was gopi (but not with the same id). I asked it around april or may 2011 (28 of April iss my first login with this merged account, so it should be around this time). $\endgroup$
    – Gopi
    Commented Oct 3, 2011 at 15:26
  • $\begingroup$ I guess this is the question. It has -1 total vote. I don't know why it is deleted, the history does not say who has deleted the question. $\endgroup$
    – Kaveh Mod
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 4:58
  • $\begingroup$ we can undelete it at least. Gopi, is that what you need ? $\endgroup$
    – Suresh Venkat Mod
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 5:52
  • $\begingroup$ Yes that was the one. It is just that I have the answer to my question and I think I remember there was one follower. More importantly I don't know if usually the history says who deletes the question, but there might be some kind of bug to check when two accounts are merged? Thanks anyway :). $\endgroup$
    – Gopi
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 8:40
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    $\begingroup$ @Kaveh: The question was probably deleted automatically because of low score and low activity. Please see the update to my answer. $\endgroup$
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 10:04
  • $\begingroup$ @TsuyoshiIto, it would contradict everything that is said on the meta about the questions being deleted only when offensive or spam (see this question) $\endgroup$
    – Gopi
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 15:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Gopi: I wrote just facts. The fact that I wrote about automatic deletion does not imply that I consider that automatic deletion is a good idea. $\endgroup$
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 15:39
  • $\begingroup$ @Gopi: From what I found out, it is an intended functionality and not a bug. Whether it is a good design or not is a separate issue. $\endgroup$
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 15:45
  • $\begingroup$ ok the question has been undeleted. $\endgroup$
    – Suresh Venkat Mod
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 15:58
  • $\begingroup$ @TsuyoshiIto, I was not saying you did, I am sorry if I was not clear, it was not a reproach. I was just surprised about it as a fact. I did not it was really a functionality of the website. Thank you for clarifying. $\endgroup$
    – Gopi
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 16:21
  • $\begingroup$ @SureshVenkat, thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Gopi
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 16:23
  • $\begingroup$ @Gopi: Oh, I see. In fact, I am surprised, too. Automatic deletion seems a little weird to me, but I do not have enough knowledge to make any judgement; for example, I do not know why this mechanism is there in the first place. Probably there is some reason. $\endgroup$
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Oct 4, 2011 at 17:14

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