Node removal vs edit

An initiate who appears to be trying to learn Perl posted a node (How can I make a regex apply to each line of a file?) earlier today that was reaped. The reason given for removing it was:

"OOH OOH DELETE - Kage has been warned about *MEANINGFUL* titles".

Yet the node wasn't a personal attack on another person, a troll, poorly formatted or off-topic. The title, let me immediately acknowledge, was really bad. The node itself wasn't.

vroom has thoughtfully provided a mechanism for fixing up nodes which need a bit of help. It seems that 4 people voted for editing the node (autoreap kicked in at the 5th delete vote). Most likely more would have voted 'edit' if the person who considered the node had asked for that, rather than 'delete'.

So what's the deal? Is it appropriate to 'punish' users for minor infractions of the rules in this way? And if you're determined to reap a node, shouldn't you finish the job and remove the orphans left behind (2 in this case)?

Update: This situation has long since been resolved, thanks everyone. Save all ++ for more deserving nodes. :)

Comment on Node removal vs edit

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Node removal vs edit by chromatic (Archbishop) on Oct 29, 2001 at 00:44 UTC
No, it's not appropriate to punish users for minor infractions of the largely unwritten rules. It is appropriate to offer helpful suggestions ("try Super Search", "use a module", "don't confuse map with for", "use CODE tags"), especially as a private message. When submitting a node for consideration, be aware that your nickname is prepended to the reason. I encourage people to comment on potentially overzealous considerations. Enforcing the percevied purity of the database is a rather lame goal compared to helping other programmers and building up a decent reference for posterity.	[reply]
Re: Node removal vs edit by tachyon (Chancellor) on Oct 28, 2001 at 20:06 UTC
I agree the title was bad but that was all. A simple title change was all that was really warranted, if in fact anything was required. Reaping it was totally over the top. As you note the node in question now has two orphan replies. cheers tachyon s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print	[reply]
Re: Node removal vs edit by Chady (Priest) on Oct 28, 2001 at 22:29 UTC
and the node in question misteriously resurrected. He who asks will be a fool for five minutes, but he who doesn't ask will remain a fool for life. Chady \| http://chady.net/	[reply]