What happens to deleted questions?

The problem is that even perfectly 'harmless' questions - can break the rules. There are a LOT of rules and they do include things that make 'harmless' questions into violations. Like chatting - chatting is probably the #1 reason things are deleted.

The other problem is that SOME folks don't truly understand ALL the rules well enough - and they can report things improperly. If enough people do that, the posting is removed. The only 'fix' for this situation is for the person who gets the violation to appeal - and win. Which is not so easy, really.

Try to analyze the questions you are answering where this is happening and see if they have something in common that might be what is triggering the violation. If so, avoid questions like that in the future so you don't continue to have this problem.

If the asker of the deleted question appeals, the question and answers are restored. If they don't appeal or it was a violation, the question is gone forever. A rule of thumb is that if you are going to take long to answer, do the answer in a wrod processor or text editor and copy the entire answer at once. The error you got can also be seen if your service provider or the Yahoo servers timed you out. This depends on traffic, but for long answers, don't click the answer button until you have it written.

Harmless doesn't mean it follows the guidelines. If the asker appeals and wins the question is reposted buried in its original spot. If the violation is upheld it remains in the Yabyss.

The user must appeal. If they win the question is reinstated.