user10794: I saw a question about an hour ago, it looked reasonable. It was about passing an array of values to a function. I answered it, it took 10 or 15 minutes, including making up some example code.
Half an hour later I go to check on whether I made any typos, but couldn't find any history of the question at all! Not even in the "moderator tools" list of deleted questions (ie. "recently deleted").

It wasn't listed in my "all actions":


I was starting to doubt my sanity at this point. I'm sure I answered it! I even have the code in my IDE:
class myClass {
  const int num_;
  const int * values_;

  public:

  // constructor
  myClass (const int num, const int * values) : num_ (num), values_ (values) { } 

  // other stuff here

  // demo
  void printThem ();
};  // end of class myClass

void myClass::printThem ()
  {
  for (int i = 0; i < num_; i++)
    Serial.println (values_ [i]);  
  } // end of myClass::printThem

const int NUMBER_OF_VALUES = 6;
const int myValues [NUMBER_OF_VALUES] = { 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77 };

// make an instance of the class with the wanted values
myClass foo (NUMBER_OF_VALUES, myValues);

void setup ()
  {
  Serial.begin (115200);
  Serial.println ();

  foo.printThem ();
  }  // end of setup

void loop ()
  {

  }  // end of loop


So, did I dream it? Did I answer a question that came to me in a vision?
I couldn't find any trace of it, until I remembered the browser history:

There it was! The question did exist. Clicking on that link in the browser history revealed the question:


And my answer:

Now I'm pretty pissed off. I've seen this sort of behaviour before on other sites, but I thought StackExchange was supposed to be a knowledge base of good questions and good answers. Not to get an answer and then delete the question and the answer.

So what's my question? 

Is this acceptable behaviour? 
How do you deal with people that ask a question, wait for you to answer it, and then delete the question?
Why is the answer not listed in "all actions"? I did an action. I answered a question. I expect that to be listed.
How can they even delete the answer as well? On the Arduino forum, if you delete your question the answer still stays there, and then a moderator tells the person not to do that again.


Moderators: Please undelete the question, undelete the answer, protect the question from further deletion, and have a word with the OP.

user220: 
Is this acceptable behaviour?

Yes and no. If there was a reason for deletion, it may be OK. However, there doesn't seem to be any reason the OP would delete. Otherwise, I'd say no. It's really dependent on the situation.

How do you deal with people that ask a question, wait for you to answer it, and then delete the question?

Flag it for moderator attention.

Why is the answer not listed in "all actions"? I did an action. I answered a question. I expect that to be listed.

Deleted posts aren't listed in that section.

How can they even delete the answer as well? On the Arduino forum, if you delete your question the answer still stays there, and then a moderator tells the person not to do that again.

We're not the Arduino forum, so there's that.
The OP can delete a question if it has only one answer with no upvotes (in this case they could delete)

For now, I've undeleted the question/answer and left a comment to ensure that there isn't some lingering reason the OP wants the question deleted.

10794: 

<p>I saw a question about an hour ago, it looked reasonable. It was about passing an array of values to a function. I answered it, it took 10 or 15 minutes, including making up some example code.</p>

<p>Half an hour later I go to check on whether I made any typos, but couldn't find any history of the question at all! Not even in the "moderator tools" list of deleted questions (ie. "recently deleted").</p>

<hr>

<p>It wasn't listed in my "all actions":</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GbMWn.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GbMWn.png" alt="Recent actions"></a></p>

<hr>

<p>I was starting to doubt my sanity at this point. I'm sure I answered it! I even have the code in my IDE:</p>

<pre class="lang-C++ prettyprint-override"><code>class myClass {
  const int num_;
  const int * values_;

  public:

  // constructor
  myClass (const int num, const int * values) : num_ (num), values_ (values) { } 

  // other stuff here

  // demo
  void printThem ();
};  // end of class myClass

void myClass::printThem ()
  {
  for (int i = 0; i &lt; num_; i++)
    Serial.println (values_ [i]);  
  } // end of myClass::printThem

const int NUMBER_OF_VALUES = 6;
const int myValues [NUMBER_OF_VALUES] = { 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77 };

// make an instance of the class with the wanted values
myClass foo (NUMBER_OF_VALUES, myValues);

void setup ()
  {
  Serial.begin (115200);
  Serial.println ();

  foo.printThem ();
  }  // end of setup

void loop ()
  {

  }  // end of loop
</code></pre>

<hr>

<p>So, did I dream it? Did I answer a question that came to me in a vision?</p>

<p>I couldn't find any trace of it, until I remembered the browser history:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PgOLi.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PgOLi.png" alt="Question in my browser history"></a></p>

<p>There it was! The question <strong>did</strong> exist. Clicking on that link in the browser history revealed the question:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1K2yD.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/1K2yD.png" alt="Question, now deleted"></a></p>

<hr>

<p>And my answer:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TGrMD.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/TGrMD.png" alt="Answer to question"></a></p>

<p>Now I'm pretty pissed off. I've seen this sort of behaviour before on other sites, but I thought StackExchange was supposed to be a knowledge base of good questions and good answers. Not to get an answer and then delete the question <strong>and</strong> the answer.</p>

<hr>

<p>So what's my question? </p>

<ul>
<li>Is this acceptable behaviour? </li>
<li>How do you deal with people that ask a question, wait for you to answer it, and then delete the question?</li>
<li>Why is the answer not listed in "all actions"? I did an action. I answered a question. I expect that to be listed.</li>
<li>How can they even <strong>delete the answer</strong> as well? On the Arduino forum, if you delete your question the answer still stays there, and then a moderator tells the person not to do that again.</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>Moderators: Please undelete the question, undelete the answer, protect the question from further deletion, and have a word with the OP.</p>
 220: <blockquote>
  <p>Is this acceptable behaviour?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Yes and no. If there was a reason for deletion, it may be OK. However, there doesn't seem to be any reason the OP would delete. Otherwise, I'd say no. It's really dependent on the situation.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>How do you deal with people that ask a question, wait for you to answer it, and then delete the question?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Flag it for moderator attention.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Why is the answer not listed in "all actions"? I did an action. I answered a question. I expect that to be listed.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Deleted posts aren't listed in that section.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>How can they even delete the answer as well? On the Arduino forum, if you delete your question the answer still stays there, and then a moderator tells the person not to do that again.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>We're not the Arduino forum, so there's that.</p>

<p>The OP can delete a question if it has only one answer with no upvotes (in this case they could delete)</p>

<hr>

<p>For now, I've undeleted the question/answer and left a comment to ensure that there isn't some lingering reason the OP wants the question deleted.</p>
