Is a single rude remark inside an otherwise good answer grounds for deleting the whole answer?

Question

I recently stumbled across this deleted answer (10k+ users only). It seems like a good enough answer to the question it was posted on, with a fair amount of detail, but was deleted by a moderator as rude/abusive purely for its opening remark:

You really need to work on your writing style. This sounds like the most arrogant question of all times.

This sort of remark has no place on Stack Exchange: it's unfriendly and unnecessary. Had I seen this answer prior to its deletion, I would have edited it out, and probably left a comment politely asking the user to refrain from making such remarks in the future. But I wouldn't have deleted the entire answer, because the rest of it was fine (albeit in need of some SPaG edits); it was just that one bit that needed removing.

My first thought was that the mod was being too harsh in deleting the answer entirely, instead of just removing the offending statement, but it's also possible that my approach is too lenient. So I thought it best to ask what the best practice is, especially since I'm currently running for pro-tem mod on another SE site.

If an answer contains a single rude/abusive remark but is otherwise a perfectly valid answer, is it acceptable to just remove the offending statement? Or should the whole thing be flagged as rude/abusive and deleted?

Answer 1

I will say that I do disagree with the deletion for reasons that many folks have articulated (though, as has also been acknowledged, the now-removed text was certainly over the line). Given that there seems like there's a fairly solid community consensus for undeleting the answer, I've gone ahead and done so.

I'd like to give a shoutout to both the folks who flagged the answer, as well as F1Krazy for doing a nice job of cleaning up the grammar and spelling - I think that really improved the post's presentation and certainly made it worth keeping.

Answer 2

NO

This is what the edit function is for.

I thought the comment was unnecessary and over the top, thought not actually "rude". I think it expressed a valid (if exasperated) position regarding the querent's present line of inquiry and mode of expression. If Monty Wild thought that the comment was rude, that's fair enough. You thought it was rude as well, which is also fair enough. We each have our opinions.

Which brings me to the point: Best practice in this kind of situation would have been to simply edit it out. The response, as you say, was otherwise meritorious and is of benefit to the querent and others considering similar fictional worlds.

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As far as whether this was a good Moderator action or not: I'm not saying one way or the other. I will say, however, that I reviewed the respondent's answers. I find no hint of rudeness in any of them. The respondent does say he is German (and thus ESL, so SPaG edits ought to be welcome) and he seems to respond with what I'd consider, from an American perspective, characteristic German forthrightness. I believe the "rude" comment was perhaps nothing more than a single event extension of that forthrightness.

I have moderated worldbuilding forums for years, though never here. If I were a SE Mod, I would have edited out the comment, fixed the SPaGhetti all nice, and called it a day. I wouldn't have even left a comment asking him not to be rude, though I'd make a mental notation for future review. That's a Level 1a response. This is because, as a Moderator, you come to learn that there is a sliding scale of response.

Basically, as I see it, Monty went for the Level 3c response right away. This I think would have been the correct response if the post were nothing more than a diatribe against the querent's own person. The problem with immediate escalation, is that, as a Moderator, you can't deescalate next time there's a problem with a user. People will notice and will come to question the Moderator team's authority: why don't the Mod's administer justice fairly or mercifully? Why did they just edit that person's rude comment out, but they deleted my answer entirely? See how that goes? Really the only response levels beyond utterly eradicating someone's post is to suspend or remove the person from the forum. Neither action are warranted here.

Unfortunately, the community can't vote to undo the deletion, so there's no way to fix outside of Moderator intervention.

The takeaway lesson: always dispense Justice with liberal Mercy; Justice without Mercy is Tyranny.

Answer 3

No.

First off, as @elemtilas has already pointed out, there's a reason we, as users, can edit posts.

I would also like to add that, while it is somewhat rude, it isn't overly offensive.

I could see deleting it if it said something like "you shouldn't be writing, you arrogant %^\$&! Stop polluting our site with your #$@\$."

However, it doesn't. It seems to me that at worst it comes off as petulantly exasperated. Also, remember that WB.SE has members from many cultures; what's acceptable is not constant throughout the world. It isn't even constant in the U.S. For example, correcting someone else's child is permissible in Texas, but doing it in the Pacific Northwest is extremely offensive.

Answer 4

YES...

and no...

Stack Exchange has become draconian. What was once a problem primarily on Stack Overflow has swung entirely to the other side and become a systemic and institutionalized problem in the corporation and that's infecting the user base.

Problem #1 is the Code of Conduct, which teaches us to hand-slap people instantly for not being perfect (or for not being politically aligned with Stack Exchange).

Problem #2 Flagging is highly encouraged, and one of the flags is to identify a post that's rude and abusive. The amount of rudeness and abusivity is not stated in the flag text — and considering that SE's behavior is that it's not tolerated, the apparently encouraged option is to delete.

Problem #3 is the culture on Worldbuilding to never, ever, ever, edit another person's post. This, despite SE's overall culture of encouraging editing so long as the meaning of the post is not changed.

It is therefore difficult to argue that Monty's use of the moderator hammer was wrong. We and SE have created the environment that permitted it. (I respect that F1Krazy's post is a legitimate effort to change WB's culture... but my own experience is that it won't get very far. Most of the new users aren't lifting a finger to understand the site, its culture, or its past at all anyway.)

For the record, it's as important to educate people about answering as it is to educate them about asking questions. Erik did need to know that his remark was unacceptable. Frankly, "rude" is frequently in the eye of the beholder. If Erik thinks that's the most arrogant question "of all times" (his own grammar isn't great), then he needs more experience. Then again, I've no doubt some will consider this answer to be the most arrogant post of all time.

• Monty should have edited the answer first, leaving a comment reminding Erik to "be nice." However, for all I know Monty had had a long day, too. And considering the moderating load — I'm in favor of thanking him, even when I occasionally think it could have been handled better.

Thanks, Monty! For moderating a site that's IMO harder to moderate than herding cats. Thanks. L.Dutch, HDE 226868... Thanks.

Answer 5

In my opinion, that answer should not have been deleted.

As a moderator on another SE site, I simply edit out anything that will likely be construed as rude.

If it becomes a routine problem (exceptionally rare), I'll ask the community member to please be more kind.

It has never required any more intervention than that.

Overall, I work hard to value everyone's contributions, and never delete any content unless absolutely necessary.