2

Please undelete https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/534505/208429

The close comment says "This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. ", but this makes no sense. This is neither a request for clarification nor a critique, but a simple solution to the problem.

12
  • 4
    It doesn't really help, though. Yes, it provides the image, but it would be nice if you gave some instructions on how you got that image. Answers should not only solve the problem of OP, but also be of use to future visitors. I'd be happy to vote for reopening if your answer could highlight how you got that image.
    – Skillmon
    Mar 31, 2020 at 17:23
  • 6
    To whom ever voted to close this meta request (and those who consider voting for it as well): I don't think you should shut off a user who just wanted to help and doesn't understand why his original answer got closed. This is a perfectly valid meta request you should take serious. Don't scare away new contributors with ignorance!
    – Skillmon
    Mar 31, 2020 at 21:10
  • 1
    @Skillmonlikestopanswers.xyz In this case this was me. I very rarely vote to close questions, but requests to reopen questions are to the best of my knowledge off-topic here. Otherwise this site will drown in such requests. One can edit a post, and then suggest to reopen it. One should not use the meta site for that. (In this case this is particularly delicate because the OP has an upvoted and accepted answer under the post, so if their aim is to just share another piece of information, they can add it there. Note, though, that I did not vote to close the other question.)
    – user194703
    Apr 1, 2020 at 17:08
  • 1
    @Skillmonlikestopanswers.xyz I wanted to say "I did not vote to delete the answer we are talking about here." Actually, I do not think "shut off" is an appropriate wording, there are ways to reopen a question without posting a meta question. I am not even necessarily against undeleting the post (provided the statements in bold and with exclamation marks disappear), but I am against using the meta site for discussing undeleting a post. Posts get deleted all time, sometimes inappropriately, and there are ways to undelete them, asking a question on meta is not one of them.
    – user194703
    Apr 1, 2020 at 18:19
  • @Schrödinger'scat: Having discussions about (un)deletion is completely fine as it deals with the site itself, and that's what Meta is for.
    – Werner Mod
    Apr 1, 2020 at 22:17
  • 1
    @Werner To the best of my knowledge: abstract questions about undulation, yes, but not requests to undelete a specific post. Otherwise this site will be flooded by appeals to undelete posts. To be clear, it is perfectly fine to ask questions about the meaning of a specific reason why a post was deleted, and it is fine to ask to add reasons or change the rules. This is, to the best of my knowledge, what "meta" stands for.
    – user194703
    Apr 1, 2020 at 23:09
  • @Schrödinger'scat on SO main/meta this seems to be more of an accepted practise, there is even a tag [reopen-closed] for "A request to have a specific question reopened by the community, often resulting in explanations why it was closed and guidance on improving it." (see meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/reopen-closed). Also the opposite, i.e., users asking to have their badly received quetion deleted, happens regularly there. I think for TeX.SE it would be fine as well to address such requests.
    – Marijn
    Apr 8, 2020 at 9:41
  • 1
    @Marijn As I said, I was not necessarily against the idea to undelete, but I think this is not a valid meta question. How can one answer this question? Who can? I feel we should only ask answerable questions which have some sort of lasting value. The answer that this was all about has long be undeleted, so what do we do with this question now? Can one answer it? And does it make sense that the one who is questioning the deletion has the right to accept one answer out of potentially several? To me this does not make any sense, sorry.
    – user194703
    Apr 8, 2020 at 9:48
  • 1
    @Schrödinger'scat Meta has many different functions, not all of them are equally suited for a question-(accepted) answer format with voting. For example company announcements such as the yearly summary, or many questions in the [discussion] tag. User requests for a specific question serve two different purposes: first to educate users by explaining why their question answer was indeed worthy of closing or deleting, usually paired with downvotes on the meta question, and second in some cases to correct a wrong [...]
    – Marijn
    Apr 8, 2020 at 10:24
  • 1
    decision by reviewers. Valid answers consist of an explanation why something was closed, which can be accepted if the OP understands the reason, or by explaning (or guessing) why a review mistake has been made, which can also be accepted by the OP. Votes are used to express agreement or disagreement with the closure. It's useful to have such things on Meta, because other new users can (ideally) learn how the site works by reading previous discussions on specific questions.
    – Marijn
    Apr 8, 2020 at 10:25
  • 1
    @Marijn We have a very specific example here, and I do not see how your generally valid, yet abstract arguments help here. This is just a request to undelete a post. As I have written above, an abstract question about the criteria to delete posts is on-topic, but this is not what we are dealing with here. All I continue to say is that this very post here is not a valid meta question. BTW, I asked an abstract question about this.
    – user194703
    Apr 8, 2020 at 10:28
  • 1
    @Schrödinger'scat all I'm saying is that Meta can be used, is actually used (on SO), and is imo suitable to be used, for specific reopen requests. I'll try to write an answer to your new post when I have some time.
    – Marijn
    Apr 8, 2020 at 10:36

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

As requested, the answer has been undeleted.

It is an example of how moderation by users works:

  • After several deletion votes in the review process it got deleted.
  • Then, after several undeletion votes it got undeleted.

It shows that a status is not carved in stone and can be adjusted by fellow users. And as said in the comments, it's fine to discuss that process here.

4
  • I'm still in the opinion that it is a bad answer, because it tells nothing about how to remove the background with Gimp.
    – egreg
    Oct 17, 2020 at 12:53
  • @egreg I got 9 downvotes when I explained why I deleted a bad answer so I won't delete a bad answer this time.
    – Stefan Kottwitz Mod
    Oct 17, 2020 at 13:03
  • I didn't ask to delete it.
    – egreg
    Oct 17, 2020 at 13:08
  • @egreg Confirmed. And I have the same opinion. I use GIMP often (such as quickly making photos email-ready by resizing, cutting, auto white light balance, sharpening) and still today I don't know how to remove the background (never looked for it), so also for me as a long term user the How is still an open question even after that answer.
    – Stefan Kottwitz Mod
    Oct 17, 2020 at 15:10

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .