Why do questions get deleted?
By beamer88
@beamer88 (4259)
Philippines
February 15, 2011 11:22am CST
There goes another one. I'm now getting confused on why certain questions get deleted. This is the third time a legitimate question that adhered to myLot guidelines got deleted. As a result, my response (and the other comments) got deleted also. But what's frustrating is that no explanation is given. You just receive a notification that your response got deleted because the question it was under was deleted. Wouldn't it be possible to include also the reason why it got deleted so that people would not commit the same mistake in their next post and so that we would also know what questions not to respond to? There are a lot of new members right now, and I'm certain more would be signing up too.
2 people like this
11 responses
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
15 Feb 11
Sometimes members start discussions that are already started and they are duplicate. Other times if a members says to you in a response view my profile and you respond well the member is violating and so your comment cannot sit alone in a comment box so they both get deleted. Same if the member is saying here is my link and you respond.
So anytime you see clearly that it is a violation, do not comment unless you do not mind the deletion. As I am one at times that I will comment back even though I know it is a violation as I want to help the member by telling the member that he/she is breaking the rule.
Learning the full guidelines does take time but if you visit them after you remember what the discussion was about it sure does help and it becomes clearer.
Best of luck.
1 person likes this
@hardworkinggurl (37063)
• United States
16 Feb 11
You are welcome and I forgot to add that rare, but it does happen where members who start discussions, later have regrets and ask admin to delete also. So it would certainly be helpful to know that too as sometimes I am left puzzled wondering why a legit discussion was deleted. 
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
15 Feb 11
beamer it was not a legitimate question or it would not have been deleted. most of you newer ones cannot see what a poll type question is if it slapped you in the face. think of what a poll is, people are asked certain questions which the question maker wants answers from many people it is called taking a poll a simple question like how many of you like your coffee black and how many like it with cream and or sugar?These type of things are a survey not a discussion and can be answered with only one or two words. they are not a valid discussion.Now if the mylotter had made a discussion about coffee and mentioned the different ways people like their coffee and asked your take on it that is a valid discussion. 
remember this is not a question and answer place. we call what we writ discussions not uestions. thats where so many new comers go wrong and instead of having an issue to discuss like getting a child to eat healthy foods and asking for some ideas, they ask What foods should a child eat? now thats a poll.
remember this is not a question and answer place. we call what we writ discussions not uestions. thats where so many new comers go wrong and instead of having an issue to discuss like getting a child to eat healthy foods and asking for some ideas, they ask What foods should a child eat? now thats a poll.
@krajibg (11922)
• Guwahati, India
15 Feb 11
Hatley, you have elaborated the causes in better ways. Now our friend should be convinced about the things here.
@beamer88 (4259)
• Philippines
16 Feb 11
I appreciate your concern, but a lot of newbies do take time to read and understand the guidelines and adhere to them. And I'm sure a lot of us newbies can distinguish what a poll type of question is from a legitimate discussion. But this isn't what I'm bothered about. I just feel that the notification should include a short explanation pinpointing the cause of the deletion. Is it very hard to say "Your response was deleted because the question it was under was deleted since it was a poll-type question"? Or the question was deleted since it violated this or that reason. Is that asking for too much?
@fjclolazy (859)
• China
26 Feb 11
I just had the same problem,but think I understand more now...But how about the question like what's the size of your shoes...This would be a poll???
@beamer88 (4259)
• Philippines
17 Feb 11
I guess the admin had valid reasons why they decided to delete a particular question. But what some of us so called newbies would appreciate it if we were given an explanation why a question was deleted so that we wouldn't make the same mistake again.
1 person likes this
They're assuming that everyone has read the rules & that assumption is valid reason enough
@zralte (4178)
• India
15 Feb 11
Hi beamer88, I think you need to read the Discussion guidelines and FAQs again.
Secondly, you are saying "I'm now getting confused on why certain questions get deleted. "
This seems to imply to me that you thin myLot is Question and Answer site - ask a question to get the answer - to be more accurate. That is not true. myLot is a discussion site, wherein there is a topic of discussion as proposed by the discussion starter, and anyone can join the discussion.
Most of the times, it is pretty clear which discussion is against discussion guidelines, and sometimes there are discussion made on somethings which are already answered in the FAQs.
I do respond to some discussion started by new members - to give them guidance and to help them understand, knowing full well that the discussion will get deleted. I have no problem with that. Sometimes I stay clear of a discussion which I know is going to be deleted especially if it is started by members with more than 500 posts under their belt and still violate guidelines.
If you don't want your response to be deleted, simply avoid those discussions which violates guidelines or/and asking questions already answered in FAQs.
@beamer88 (4259)
• Philippines
16 Feb 11
Thanks but I've read the guidelines and FAQ's. And I also avoid answering questions that don't adhere to the guidelines. I was just hoping that the notifications would include reasons why said questions were deleted. There are a lot of newbies here, including myself even if I signed up 2 years ago. I was under the impression that this is a help one-help all kind of site. Well, it would really help newbies to find out why their questions got deleted.
@zralte (4178)
• India
16 Feb 11
Like Hatley said, most of them are due to poll type questions rather than discussion.
As for including reasons for notifications on all the responders, I think you'll have to suggest that to admin. My understanding is that if the main discussion is deleted, the reason is included in the email sent to the discussion starter, the responders get the standard 'Your response was deleted because the discussion under it was responded was deleted'. Most of the times, it can be quite clear why a discussion get deleted. Most common being the violation of guidelines/rules, and poll type questions, and some due to the referral link.
@saurabhsharma (2)
• India
16 Feb 11
i am also noticing some question which was legitimate has been deleted by mylot and one thing that you put up is to give reason after every deleted discussion.
It would be good to make mylot a better and trustworthy place.
@ganeshprabhuk (1722)
• India
16 Feb 11
I agree with your views why the questions get deleted without any intimation. A prior intimation or when a question is deleted, some intimation stating the reason to be provided. Thats worth enough.
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
15 Feb 11
Admin do not explain for the simple reason, we should know the guidelines at the tip of our fingers. One glaring examples where discussions are sure going to mylot bins are those duplicate discussions. Much as we think that they are innocent discussions but admin have the final say and am sure they have reasons for every deletion.
@krajibg (11922)
• Guwahati, India
15 Feb 11
Hi beamer,
If you read the FAQ of mylot you will see all rules and guidelines. This is our fault that we do not care much about reading them and unknowingly commit a mistake or violate the norms and your post is deleted.
@nijolechu (1842)
• Canada
16 Feb 11
I agree with your comments on discussions. I don't really know why certain discussions get deleted in the first place. It really is time consuming for me to reply to a discussion and then see it get deleted because the admin found something wrong with the discussion. I hope maybe we can have some kind of open forum to discuss these things and other ideas with the admin to try to make Mylot a better place for open discussions.
@fabsprecious (1565)
• United States
15 Feb 11
I would also really like to know why, that has happened to me on numerous occassions and I would have sworn that I was actually following their guidelines. To be honest with you, I would also like to get a sincere answer for that particular question, so that in that future when I come up with topics I know that they won't be deleted.
