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I've wondered why it is that we can see deleted answers on this site? According to this post,

"Once a post has been deleted, it will disappear for all users except developers, moderators, and users with over 10,000 reputation. Deleted answers are also visible to the original author."

So I'm not sure if it's site specific or perhaps because we're still in beta or for some other reason that deleted answers can be seen by someone like myself who has far less than 10K rep. I'm pretty sure brand new users can see them too.

I have a few reasons for asking. One is that on looking back on some older questions there are many deleted answers and it sort of looks messy and disorganized to newcomers to the site. But also some answers are inappropriate and the intent was really to get rid of them. So if they still appear (highlighted in pink no less to make them even more visible), it actually draws attention to that which we didn't want seen in the first place. Lastly, if a person truly makes a big blunder in an answer and wishes to not have their error on display forever, they can't really do anything beyond delete it; which again, highlights it in pink for everyone to notice even more, which could be embarrassing.

Does anyone know if it's site specific or if something can (or should) be done to make deleted posts invisible to users outside of those special categories listed above?

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I think its because we are in beta and the rep boundaries are lower. Users of 2K rep or more can see deleted posts so for your average user the site looks clean. Its only us at the giddy heights of 2K plus that can see the doubt and confusion of the deleted answers.

If we were to ever make it out of beta then the deleted answers viewing would require 10K rep.

  • Good to know, thanks Crab Bucket! :) – Robin111 Jun 29 '15 at 20:01
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Yes, as Crab Bucket answers, reputation threshold are lower while a site is in beta.

This help page describes all reputation-based privileges.

Your OP quoting a StackOverflow help page. As a non-beta site StackOverflow 's reputation-based thresholds are higher, e.g. this page defines "access to moderator tools" at 10,000 instead of at 2,000.

Whichever it is, this help page describes the "Viewing deleted posts" privilege. It exists so that you can help detect answers being maliciously or wrongfully deleted when they shouldn't be.

Any newcomers to the site won't see deleted pages.

  • That makes sense Chris. Thanks! :) – Robin111 Jun 29 '15 at 22:31

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