Why am I penalized for someone removing his own answer?

Question

My reputation log indicates that I have received a -1 because LPChip has removed his own answer in "How do I extract an archive embedded inside a video when WinRAR can't detect it?" Okay, I can understand someone retracting his or her answer, but why am I penalized?

Answer 1

Why am I penalized?

My reputation log indicates that I have received a -1 because LPChip has removed his own answer

Before the answer was deleted:

• You gained 2 rep when you had an edit approved on the answer.

• You lost 1 rep because you downvoted the answer.

That leaves a net gain of 1 rep.

After the answer was deleted:

• You lost the 2 rep that you gained when you had an edit approved on the answer.

• You regained the 1 rep that you lost because you downvoted the answer.

That leaves a net loss of 1 rep.

Note:

• The reputation log is not showing the -2 for the edit. Instead it is showing the aggregate -1 for the removed - which is correct - as it's not broken down as +1 -2.

See What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it? for more information.

Answer 2

There's no way for the system to tell the difference between an edit for an edit's sake, and a edit that made a question a lot better.

Considering your comment - it seemed you felt the answer wasn't good enough and was factually incorrect, and that comment might have convinced the OP to delete.

So yeah, the system worked as designed, since once deleted, no one actually benefits from the edits you did, which are intended to encourage people to improve good posts to make them better, or at least fix things.