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I know I'm risking excommunication here but nevermind.

A few weeks ago, I posted a (legitimate, I think) question about issues while connecting two PCs via RDP over the same home network.

At first I received very interesting insight from @harrymc, who seemed genuinely determined to help me.

Then I had to face a slew of comments about the shape and form of my question, rather than about how to help me solve my problem.

It seems to me that this place should show more empathy and benevolence towards original posters, because when they post their questions here, it means they're in need of help.

I understand the need to keep the place nice and tidy, and that rules must be set to ensure it stays that way, but still, deleting a whole conversation without even trying to answer the question in the first place seems kind of extreme and hypocritical to me.

There's no shame in saying you don't have an answer to a question, but to quash the question altogether because someone took the liberty to bump it in order to get answers just shows how little consideration you have for those in need of help.

I'll probably die on this hill, very soon.

Still, I said what I said.

Cheers.

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  • 3
    The point you seem to be missing is that the site isn't actually operating solely for your benefit, but for many. Each time a new user does something they shouldn't, everyone else [with admittedly differing degrees of patience] has to explain how it should actually work, what you need to read to help guide you & assist in formatting etc so posts conform to a known spec. Ignoring this & going your own way never ends well, because the existing members & fly-by voters will just then hammer it into submission, or delete it.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 15:07
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    If you consistently post badly-received questions it's not the members but the system itself will ban you from posting. The previous question, for those who can see deleted posts, was superuser.com/questions/1788526/…
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 15:07
  • With all due respect to all of you, I was merely asking a question about a problem I had (and still have, to some extent). When most comments I received in response to that question had more to do with how to format text or daring to clarify my question via editing than actually answering the question, I was left with the impression that the commentators simply didn't know how to say "I don't know". Like I said, there's no shame in not knowing, but closing/deleting the question doesn't help. What if someone stumbled by it and had THE answer? How would he/she post it then?
    – Didier
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 15:36
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    @Didier - I read your deleted question. I saw a question that was deleted because it was never improved and the was eligible to automatically be deleted
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 15, 2023 at 16:58
  • @Ramhound don't take offense, but if you leave that kind of decision in the "hands" of an automated system, then it's very convenient for those who are mere spectactors here: all they have to do is leave the question unanswered/unattended for a couple days, and poof! it's gone... Whereas the OP is left without an answer, however imperfect, to their predicament. User-vote I can understand, because it means actual people will have to take a stand, and motivate it to some extent, but this? I thought this place was about people helping other people overcome their IT issues. Turns out I was wrong.
    – Didier
    Commented Jul 16, 2023 at 8:23
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    The question had been abandoned. No action had been taken on it in a month. A further improvement edit would have brought it back to the top of the page where people would see it & may have attracted even one upvote, which would have saved it from deletion for another year.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 16, 2023 at 8:51
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    @Didier - You didn’t improve the question in over a month and it was eligible to be deleted since it was abandoned. I see no problem having a system that automatically deletes abandoned questions
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 16, 2023 at 12:56
  • @Ramhound Tetsujin: how can I improve a question when I have already explained every step I've already taken to solve the problem myself? I don't care if my question is "saved from deletion for another year"! I want to find a solution to my problem, period. Then you can close/delete/incinerate it for all I care. This system of yours is ludicrous. It's the system protecting itself, and users-in-need be damned. Whether you're doing this to save on overheads or simply cause you actually don't care about other people's predicament, I don't know, but seriously, guys, assist or desist! Nuff said!
    – Didier
    Commented Jul 17, 2023 at 11:09
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    They're deleted because unanswered they're just noise clogging up Google. As I already said, the site isn't here solely for your benefit. The rules & automations are there to keep it better for everybody. You abandoned your question, it got swept up. That's how the game is played. Like it or not. The ruleset is in my answer below. As with all rules here, they're decided finally by the users, by vote; the same way your questions got voted.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Jul 17, 2023 at 11:26
  • @Didier - You had received feedback on your question before it was deleted.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jul 17, 2023 at 12:16

1 Answer 1

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In anticipation of this being migrated to SU Meta…

The question* was auto-deleted by the system, according to this ruleset in main Meta - Enable automatic deletion of old, unanswered, zero-score questions after a year? - which it became eligible for once the non-answer was removed.

There are a lot of automated & semi-automated [relying on user votes] tasks here trying to keep things tidy & in the right place - hence how this post will be migrated to meta once it has sufficient votes. It's pretty much a democracy here in many [if not all] respects.

There is no direct equivalent of this question on Super User as far as I'm aware, but this is the guidance to try avoid dying on the hill in the main SE Meta or just SE in general. A lot of it is translatable, if not all.
How do I participate in Meta and not die trying?

*This is the relevant question, for those who can see deleted posts - Spotty Win11-PC-to-WinServer-2019 via RDP over WiFi

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