To be clear, I am not asking about what to do when I see "This question already has answers here", I'm saying that the message you get when editing a closed deleted question seems to contradict this message. That it why I have tagged this as "bug" because it seems as if the wording is wrong.

On my question which was deleted when I took this screenshot below I clicked the "edit" button. On the edit screen it gave me a popup saying edits to deleted questions aren't shown (I didn't grab a screenshot unfortunately). The reason I was editing was because I read (but may have misunderstood) that edits to closed questions cause them to go into the re-open queue. If this is the case the message may need to be reworded as it made it sound like editing a deleted question doesn't do anything.

Shows "Your post has been associated with similar questions. If these questions don't resolve your question, ask a new one" and also an "Edit question" button.

Unfortunately I cannot reproduce the issue (yet, possibly on April 21st, see below) to get a screenshot of the message that showed while trying to edit a deleted question. It was yellow and across the top of the screen and said something to the effect of "edits to deleted questions won't be seen" implying it does nothing. It seems like either the edit button on the duplicate box should go away on deleted questions or that the warning about editing deleted questions should be reworded.

BoltClock worked with me on attempting to reproduce the problem. They deleted my question but now when I click edit I do not see the yellow popup now while editing. My suspicion is that it may have something to do with the fact that I do not have a vote cast to reopen the question (last time I did). It tells me I have to wait 8 days to wait to vote to reopen the question. I've set a calendar event for myself for April 21st so I can try then.

(My current thought is that maybe the popup is meant to people who voted to reopen a question who are editing a deleted question. Maybe it is meant to inform them not to try to salvage it since it was deleted. This is just a guess though, I have no idea.)

I am certain I did not imagine this yellow popup but am having difficulty reproducing it. If anyone has any suggestions on how to reproduce it or can get a screenshot of it in a different way please let me know.

  • 3
    Does this answer your question? " If these questions don’t resolve your question, ask a new one. ". The question I choose had two additional duplicates. I am sure there are others. Apr 6 at 21:17
  • @SecurityHound I saw them when I asked the question, and no they do not. As in my edit, I am asking about the disconnect between this image saying to edit the question and the message when editing a deleted question saying it won't show up. Apr 6 at 21:30
  • 1
    Note that closed and deleted are two separate question states. You can have a question that's closed but not deleted, and in that case editing it will indeed put it into the reopen queue (assuming it hasn't been through it already). Apr 6 at 21:35
  • 2
    To be fair, that box isn't giving information about deletion, it's giving information about the duplicate closure. What else is displayed to you on that question, specifically the bit showing info about it being deleted? If both bits of information being displayed together is confusing, that's certainly a problem, but we need a complete picture.
    – Kevin B
    Apr 6 at 21:35
  • @CaptainMan - Having read the duplicate question, I fail to see, the reason they don't answer your question. The duplicates clearly indicate what should be done. While other existing questions, which I probably won't find, indeed agree the messaging isn't the best. However, the part about the first edit sending a question to be reopened, is well documented by other meta questions. Apr 6 at 21:49
  • @KevinB now that the question is reopened I cannot see the popup message I got from editing while it was deleted. It was yellow and across the top of the screen and essentially said "You're editing a deleted question, edits to deleted questions won't be seen" or something to that effect. Unfortunately I don't have any deleted questions to test this on and according to this I wouldn't be able to edit one I deleted anyways. Apr 6 at 22:26
  • @SecurityHound I tagged this as a bug due to the disconnect between the wording of the "closed as duplicate" block saying to edit the question and the "editing while deleted" block implying it does nothing. Apr 6 at 22:30
  • @JohnMontgomery I understand that, but what I'm saying is that the block still appears on questions that are both closed and deleted saying to edit it but when you do go to edit it there is another message saying edits to deleted questions aren't seen. It seems like either the edit button on the duplicate box should go away on deleted questions or that the warning about editing deleted questions should be reworded. Apr 6 at 22:36
  • 1
    You can still edit deleted questions. The point of editing a deleted question is flagging it to be undeleted. You still are not supposed to ask the same question if the question has already been deleted. Apr 6 at 22:42
  • 2
    @SecurityHound then the message that pops up when editing deleted questions shouldn't make it sound like it's pointless to edit deleted questions. Apr 6 at 22:44
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    When you're around, ping me so I can delete your question, you can retrieve a screenshot of the popup, and I can undelete it again.
    – BoltClock Mod
    Apr 7 at 3:41
  • @BoltClock Please go ahead and delete stackoverflow.com/q/66820422/1858327 I'm ready to accept that it's a dupe. I was about to delete it myself but then I realized it would be more useful if someone else did. In addition this way we don't need to be online at the same time so you can undelete it once I get the screenshot. If for some reason you're unable to (idk, like if you're only mod on meta or something) then just let me know and we can figure how to proceed. Apr 9 at 21:43
  • @BoltClock For whatever reason I am no longer seeing any popup when editing the deleted question. My suspicions about what may be different is that last time I had a vote cast to reopen it -- now I do not, I cannot cast one as it says I have to wait 8 days to recast the vote. I guess in 8 days I can try again. Maybe the popup is meant for people who believed a question could be salvaged (hince vote to reopen) trying to salvage a deleted question. Another thought is that perhaps there is difference between vote deletion and mod deletion as I cannot vote undelete, but I doubt it. Apr 12 at 20:45
  • That's true, you can't vote to undelete a mod-deleted question. It could be a reason why you're not seeing the popup. I'm not sure. Want me to undelete it now?
    – BoltClock Mod
    Apr 13 at 3:00

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