Please don't delete posts volunteers have spent time answering

Was there a particular post or posts that suddenly vanished? Unless deleted by the Webmaster, it would seem that only the Original Poster could delete something. Did they get the answer they wanted, then remover their question? That doesn’t help people with the same question in the future, and certainly does disregard the time and effort other people made to provide a response.

I assume it was the original poster, which I understand they have the right to do, but it is a pet peeve of mine about this site. The post was rather extensive and had been up mere hours. I provided a long answer, and I find it extremely inconsiderate that it was removed with no thought at all that someone had taken the time to write out a personalized reply. This does not happen on other travel forums. It drives me bonkers.

Certainly it does happen on other Travel Facebook pages, and even TripAdvisor. Or people close posting to a thread or delete content.
There are times that conversations are finite and may not have future relevance. I at least wait until the post is on Page 3 before I quietly delete.
Many people are self focused...whether self centered or self preoccupied, it is what it is. New posters may not be aware of the value for future readers.
I am a quilter. When I give a quilt away, I know I cannot control what a person does with that quilt and I have to not judge if I hear what they did with it down the road - and it includes a whole lot of labour and usually love. I look at replies on the internet to be the same. Once I hit send, it may well be out of my control. If I don't want to invest the time or risk to have it deleted, then I don't post.
Yes, it lacks forethought or consideration, but they may not have done it to be 'rude'. An explanation of why you consider it 'rude' in the original post, may be more helpful. At present, the person you are addressing in a round about way, is only going to see you chastising them with out an explanation.

Thankfully, there is also the option to edit.

valadelphia, I agree with you. It’s very inconsiderate. I’ve been on this forum for 16+ yrs and decided a long time ago not to put a lot of energy into a response for this reason, and for those who don’t seem to appreciate it.

I agree, it is bad netiquette. Someone else might have the same question in the future.

And this forum can really use a software upgrade. On most forums I participate you can only delete your thread within a certain time window (usually 30 min or so) and not if there are any replies to it.

I agree with Maria, although it might suck to see your answers deleted, it is completely up to the poster if they want their thread still up. Deleting threads certainly does happen in many groups and forums across the internet. And just because a thread is deleted, doesn’t mean the original poster didn’t find value in the answer you provided. While deleting doesn’t help for the future, often times old posts have outdated information and people will post their question anyway instead of searching for previous post. I would say to not take it so personally because the OP deleting a post probably has nothing to do with you.

Unfortunately I think there are posters who view this site as one question, a couple of answers and move on. When in reality there are two audiences -- the OP and the general public. When I answer a question I try to frame it for the general public and not necessarily as a direct answer to a direct question. I will answer the OP's question but it may/can include additional information of a general nature. Sometimes the OP doesn't like that but they forget this is an open forum. Your are correct that it is very inconsiderate to take down your question when it has been extensively answered by others.

It reminds me of a post I started in April to get feedback of how emotionally invested we are in our answers. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/what-where-when-why-and-how-do-i
I have to agree that there is no point in worrying about things we can't control, we can only hope that those that find find a valuable nugget within the answers will someday pay it forward with their experiences.

Here's another post from a few years ago about one-time posters who complain. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/one-time-posters-who-complain Our help has to be it's own reward. Enjoy your contribution and move on is about all we can do.

Thanks everyone, I know I should just ignore it, but I hate to see the answers suffer. The Thorn Tree withered away from bad policy. I can deal with the lack of courtesy when posters never acknowledge a reply, because at least I know someone else can see the answer when doing research. But writing a long detailed reply to a rather detailed question (numbered and everything) and seeing it go poof almost immediately is more than I can take. I'll calibrate my responses here from now on and only reply if the OP seems to be engaged.

As part of my job, I provide responses to questions from clients about security matters. I have a document where I copy responses that I know I'll need again (they all ask the same questions eventually, lol). Maybe that is a practice that frequent posters can adopt. If you craft a long, detailed post, keep a copy or even create a separate thread and put it there so others can benefit from your experience.

I am more sad when I write up a wonderful answer, and the website crashes and I can't retrieve it. Sometimes I try 3 times, investing a lot of time and all I get for it is Rick on the floor. Soles of shoes are soo rude. I have learned to copy before hitting send on any reply that takes investment. Even pasting it into another document if I can't complete the answer before having to sign off. Keeping past remarks to refer back to is a good idea.
There are frequent occurrences of rudeness and it isn't just new OPs not acknowledging any ones reply being beneficial There are regulars who don't bother to say 'thank you' or acknowledge what was a solution that worked.
You need tough skin to participate in social media and learn to not take it personally

I assume it was the original poster, which I understand they have the right to do, but it is a pet peeve of mine about this site

I agree. Sometimes I want to refer back to a post I spent some time writing and it's gone. On other forums you have limited time (say 15 or 30 minutes after starting a thread) to delete it, otherwise its permanent unless you can give a really good reason for removal to a moderator. I wish RS had that policy for the forums.

No, no !!! Lets not putting any more restrictions on responses. This site works much better than any other site I have responded to. On a few occasions I have edited old responses because the information or situation may have changed and I like being able to update old responses. Fodors is one that allows only 30 mins to edit a response and even the editing is a couple of hoops too many. I don't like but I can live with people deleting their questions.

“I'll calibrate my responses here from now on and only reply if the OP seems to be engaged.”

Exactly, and what I do.

celeste, that’s a great idea, to copy and keep your response. You have to change a bit of it if you want to use it in another thread, which is annoying but do-able.

Maria is exactly right, you have to have a tough skin to post here or anywhere on social media.

But what if your detailed post helped the OP? Wasn't that the intent? The poster might think he/she is supposed to remove the post when the answer is received...there are sale sites that do that. So maybe she/he was just a neophyte and by berating the person, they will never return for an answer again. Do you need your response to help more than one person for it to be satisfying? Many different perspectives...

Sometimes I try 3 times, investing a lot of time and all I get for it is Rick on the floor. Soles of shoes are soo rude.

Love this. LOL

Trying to interpret intentions from strangers on the internet (and calling them out for something you perceive they did) is a lost cause.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/croatia/who-deleted-my-post

This topic comes up all the time and it always ends the same. As long as the website is designed to allow someone who started a thread to delete it, then that option will always be available and will be used by some people. I don't see anything wrong with that. If folks are so attached to their writings, then I would take a copy and save it on your local drive.

The original poster has come back and is as flummoxed as to why the post is gone as I was. Hopefully we'll get some input from the admins eventually.