Is the moderator justified in deleting this answer?

Question

The following answer to How to start reading Bhagavad Gita? is deleted by one of the moderators here. Is the moderator justified in deleting the entire answer just because it contains a link to one particular book? I don't think so. I actually found the answer very informative although it included some links to one particular interpretation of Bhagavad Gita. I want to get others opinions on this.

Answer that was deleted (as is):

In my humble opinion,

Srimad Bhagavath Gita is a nectarian, wonderful and most miraculously blissful pond of knowledge which guides the suffering to understand basic questions of life, such as :

1. Who am I?
2. Who is God?
3. What is the relationship of Almighty God with me?
4. What is the purpose in life?
5. Are there many Gods or is God one?
6. How should one act in his life to be achieve the goal of life?

For the question,

Can anybody suggest me how to get started with it? I know it's a sequence of dialogues between Arjuna and Lord Krishna. Do I've to go through the Mahabharata in order to understand Bhagavad Gita?

It is not necessary to read mahabharatha to understand the Gita. Gita literally means the song of God. It is sung by the supreme God to all living entities and as such can be read by any person in any walk of life at any point of time without any prior information. However it is very much necessary to read the bhagavad gita IN PROPER ORDER. we cannot skip one chapter or start from a middle chapter. That would be like skipping first grade and studying Quantum physics. Please read in the order in which Srimad Bhagavad Gita has been sung by the Lord.

In which language should I read ?

There are many translated versions available in ENGLISH, HINDI. But it is also necessary to understand that anyone who has written the translation must come through specific parampara otherwise the translation is not authentic. (This link might be helpful : bhagavad-gita.org/DiscipleSuccession/)

There are a few versions available in English are good/ understandable, websites are as follows:

This is a fantastic source where the explanations given by prominent acharyas in a valid parampara are provided for each verse:

www.bhagavad-gita.org/

This is another good site, which provides great translations and purports: asitis.com

Some hard copy sellers: http://www.madhwakart.com/shop/geeta-bhashya/ http://www.flipkart.com/bhagavad-gita/p/itme3dhz4eztwyw5?pid=9789171494375&otracker=from-search&srno=t_1&query=bhagavad+gita&ref=c9533ce6-43b7-479b-9b62-28089eabaaea

In my opinion the other Bhagavad gita translations that I've read were not as fulfilling/ understandable as the above two and as such I am quoting the ones I could understand ( The second one even has a supportive word by word sanskrit to english translation, which most others read but I don't) . Also many books have their own philosophy into the translations which completely changes the meaning of the Gita.

How will Bhagavad Gita change my life?I am not too religious but believe in things that makes sense.

If Bhagavad Gita is heard (or read) by a faithful person from a Guru who is self realized, then it will be all auspicious for the reader. And one of the main focal points to have while reading is the faith. And believe me, the Bhagavath Gita makes total sense, in a way nothing much else in the world can make sense.

- user1224 answered Feb 26 '15 at 10:05

Response by moderator when I flagged to undelete it:

Don't understand why this answer is deleted. What is "spammy" in this answer? – sv. yesterday

declined - Question is HOW TO READ and not WHERE to read. Other answer provides HOW TO READ unlike this answer which shares links to particular books (promoting) and hence sounds like spam.

Does this mean we are not allowed to add links to a website or book that subscribes to one particular philosophy we favor over others? And if we do, it means we are "promoting" or "spamming" this site with "our" opinions or philosophies?!

How are we supposed to answer questions like How to read Hindu Scriptures without leaving any links to books or websites?

Answer 1

This answer should Not be deleted. The argument is quite easy. As per the moderator's flag-response:

Question is HOW TO READ and not WHERE to read...

The 2 "How"-s are already visible in the answer:

1. Can anybody suggest me how to get started with it?

2. How will Bhagavad Gita change my life?

Let's ignore the 2nd one, but the 1st "How" is enough to sustain the main question.

The deleted answer is neither 1 liner nor low quality. If the links were found unacceptable then they should have been edited out [by the Mod]. The user is anyways non-existent to raise problem against it. Hence, I am bit surprised to learn that, the deleting moderator is the one who recently put a nice suggestion, which is fundamentally against deletion:
Please stop flagging (instantly) questions/answers as low quality if they are one-liners

To be able to delete this answer, moderators have to delete so many answers, which are indeed low quality.

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This situation reminds me of below post:
What does Hindu scripture say about class hierarchy?

An answer with mainly links is retained. Fine enough. However, another answer with proper scripture citation & covering all the queries, stands deleted (> 2k rep users can see). I suspect the deletion is due to mismatch of personal beliefs. Had raised this issue in below meta-post, to no resolution so far:
Moderators should give time & scope of discussion before deleting a post for active users

Flagged it 6 months back & recently, but both were rejected with "found no evidence" reply. Such confused policy can be seen in many places, here is 1 more example:
How could octogenarian heroes fight in Mahabharata?

Answer 2

Moderators must not delete answers period. They may place a comment that an answer is incorrect/inappropriate/in contradiction to the site's rules etc.. Deletion is an extreme measure and must be employed only in cases of abuse.

The answer referenced in this Q does not merit deletion at all!

Answer 3

Answer was deleted by me. Flags were handled by me. First, lets discuss why the delete.

As you have already shared the post, lets focus on the date part which says user1224 answered Feb 26 '15, that means, answer is almost two years old. We used to get a lot of spammy answers where people were promoting their books and personal websites on random questions.

User flagged the answer as spam (I've not deleted the answer on my own). I am feeling glad that users are sharing deleted answers and the reply to the flag I've given but none shared the comment I've posted on the answer before I deleted.

Hello and welcome to Hinduism.SE. We understand that you are trying to help other users by suggesting them to read a particular book, but your answer sounds spammy as you are posting links to other website which is not accepted. So I'll be deleting your answer, if you have any knowledge over this, write in your own words and flag your answer for undelete.

(No one shared this comment ;) )

As I've clearly stated here to the user that the time I deleted, we were against such links and hence, told him to share some data if he has any rather than linking to a book directly. I also stated to flag for an undelete once the answer is edited by him.

I never received any flags, nor the answer was edited by that particular user. I don't think I did anything wrong in order to prevent spam.

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Coming to @iammilind's answer, what he states is :

The deleted answer is neither one liner nor low quality. If the links were found unacceptable then they should have been edited out.

As a high reputation user himself, or the OP, you guys could've edited out the link and flagged it for undelete, but neither one of you did it.

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Closing out the confusion:

If you flag a post to undelete, please edit the post before you ask for undelete.