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I propose that we be a little benevolent towards new users, because they are almost always unfamiliar with the site rules.
e.g. Today a user named rajesh kaza posted an answer. He does not have enough reputation either to post a comment or participate in chat. New users may only post a question or an answer initially. Let us not be too harsh in deleting and locking their initial contribution to the site. It will drive away traffic and any chances for site improvement are lost. This particular user sounded distressed and it would have been nice to offer some advice/comfort.

@Mods, please undelete this user's post, to at least allow us to respond to their query and apprise them of site rules.
Making this a meta post so that a little latitude can become a common practice

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  • 2
    Who is dowm voting ? Please drop a comment...
    – Rakesh Joshi
    Commented Nov 28, 2017 at 22:20
  • 2
    @RakeshJoshi This is a meta. Voting is different on meta. Downvote means disagree. Upvote means agree.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 4:54
  • @NogShine means people disagree without a reason ?
    – Rakesh Joshi
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 9:23
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    @RakeshJoshi No, people are always welcome to give reason but that's not mandatory. Also, the voting is secretive and private. The reason they vote is the question's usefulness and clarity. What is meta.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 10:07
  • 2
    "The reason they vote is the question's usefulness and clarity." not the same as "Downvote means disagree. Upvote means agree." :-)
    – user1195
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 11:51
  • 1
    Yes, usually community users provide them link to the tour and help center pages so-that he or she can get familiar. Btw, I'm not finding the user you've mentioned.
    – Pandya Mod
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 13:29
  • @Pandya Looks like the user deleted their profile. We drove them away with our harsh reaction.
    – user1195
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 14:48
  • 1
    Related: Could we please be a bit nicer to new users?
    – Pandya Mod
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 12:00
  • @pandya nice link. thx.
    – user1195
    Commented Nov 30, 2017 at 12:46

1 Answer 1

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I understand your intention of helping a user. But there are some cases which we have to consider.

  1. That was posted as an answer.

    This is the main reason in deleting the post. The post which you are referring is a series of questions posted as answer. On discussion forums, there are no questions and answers. There are threads. In Stack exchange, there are no threads. Just Q&A. Such answers are considered as low quality answers and will be deleted. There is a auto-comment in the low quality review queues asking the user not to post a question in the answer fields. Deletion of low quality answers is a part of moderation.

  2. Most parts of the post is giving out personal details.

    There are many personal details in the question having them in the post may make it a personal advice question which is off topic for site. This is the site policy. If they are removed and asked as a question, it would become on-topic.

  3. There are many questions asked under it.

    Even if it is asked as a question, it would become a too-broad question.

    Mods- please undelete this user's post to at least allow us to respond to their query and apprise them of site rules.

    The deletion is according to the rules of stack exchange. So, I think there should be no problem in keeping it deleted. There is also a comment under the post which says to post it as a separate question but there was no question on the main. The OP's last seen is 09:45:47 and the post was deleted at 10:27. so, he could have replied or returned if we wanted the answer desperately and he was distressed. So, it is clear that they doesn't even know that their post was deleted. The probability of unregistered users coming back is very less.

    Allowing questions in the answers is a bad practice and not suitable for SE format.

Now, coming of general way of treating, I don't think we are benevolent towards the new users. 99% of the times, the first comment they face is

Welcome to Hinduism Stackexchange.

Personal advice questions are off-topic on the site. We don't want that questions and the probably users who ask off-topic questions. So, it doesn't effect the site's popularity or traffic.

I don't think any users are harsh or rude towards new users. We always welcome new users and their useful contribution. Every user here was a new user at a point of time.

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  • I don't disagree with the reasons for deleting or the fact that the answer needed deletion. All I am saying is let the user know those reasons, give them a minute to react, then delete. The first comment placed right after deleting was not at all useful to the user. Many new users need a little coaching on how to use the site. Let us have a day's worth of patience to do the coaching is all I am saying. As for personal details, the personal details that SE refers to are those that make it easy to dox the user. I did not see any of those kind of details in the user's Q.
    – user1195
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 11:53
  • Correction: User's answer. Yes, users need coaching in the site rules. There was ample time to him. A not an answer staying on a site for a day is not a good thing. They should be deleted as soon as possible. That is ow moderation works.
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 16:34
  • That is NOT how moderation should work. "Ample time" seems to be subjective as well. A user may post a Q or an A and come back to it after some time. Regardless, I myself did not notice "ample time" given to this user. This user was unfairly driven away.
    – user1195
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 16:41
  • What is ample time according to you? 1 month? Many unregistered users come and leave the site. I don't think we have driven away them. There were 40 minutes to them and the comment was after just 3 minutes after posting the answer. If they came to delete? Why didn't they see the comment and ask the question?
    – Sarvabhouma
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 17:02
  • Initial "heavy-lifting" must be done by the site not the user. The user may have just felt he was being scolded off.
    – user1195
    Commented Nov 29, 2017 at 17:09

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