@FaheemMitha well, it just goes to show that you don't actually need to know that much about a subject before answering a question on it. Some well-worded google searches, a little brushing up on Wikipedia, some general background knowledge, and a talent for synthesizing coherent statements from disparate data are all you need to succeed on Stack Exchange. Of course, if you already know everything about a particular subject, that makes it even easier :)
What I meant by that particular statement was that I had never really thought about why trees don't grow in certain areas, but given a background in general botany, some familiarity with both trees and grasslands, and google, I managed to come up with a very plausible answer.
I think it was pretty harsh to delete the answer to this question, even if I disagreed a bit with the contents of it.
I can imagine that such actions might drive away users, in this case somebody who seems to have domain knowledge and wants to contribute productively to the site.
@terdon It wasn't converted to a comment though, just deleted. I understand the reason though and it was clearly not a full answer, but it still felt a bit harsh. We could have asked for clarifications first.
@fileunderwater Only mods can do that, it was the community that deleted it.
And the question itself doesn't belong here in the first place.
I don't mind loosing things like that.
Hmm. Actually, I remember posting an answer here that would have been a better fit for English Language & Usage. I would quite understand if that were deleted.
@terdon Since biological nomenclature is on-topic here I think the question is borderline on-topic, but probably better for EL&U. I know that only mods can convert to comments, and I think flagging and converting would have been a better course of action here.
Perhaps. On the other hand, the answer made no attempt to address the rise of jargon in our field. That is a real subject. I mean, we say idiopathic disease when we mean "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you" :)
But not the native Greek speakers. I actually got points in an exam once where I was asked "what does bacterium X do?". I had no idea but the name was Greek and descriptive so... :)