Conversation started Nov 19, 2017 at 12:42.
user21820
user21820
Nov 19, 2017 12:42
@GabrielRomon Just because people spend effort on poor questions does not make the questions any less poor. They can and should post their answers on good questions. If a poor question gets deleted and someone thinks their answer is applicable to a much wider audience than the original (lousy) one, they can just post their own (often generalized) question and answer independently and let the original be deleted.
Nov 5 at 4:43, by user21820
I'll also note that your method of undeleting and locking to preserve a good answer seems to be sub-optimal. As Martin and I have discussed extensively before, there is another option available (which Martin has in fact used a number of times): Write a new question (a different one) and move the good answer there, leaving the old lousy question closed. Jam can do this, or you (as a moderator) can do it if you love Jam's answer.
Nov 13 at 2:41, by user21820
By the way, in case you want to know, this has been deleted and the answer transferred to a better question.
For another example by Martin:
Nov 19 '16 at 8:35, by Martin Sleziak
This question gained some attention after (probably) getting into hot questions list and also being mentioned on meta.
Nov 19 '16 at 8:35, by Martin Sleziak
-10
Q: How can you simplify $\cos^6x+\sin^6x$ to $1-3\sin^2x cos^2x$?

AlbertHow can you simplify $\cos^6x+\sin^6x$ to $1−3\sin^2x\cos^2x$? I know that $\cos^2x+\sin^2x=1$. I thought about trying to use $(\cos^2x+\sin^2x)^3=1$, but that did not lead me anywhere. I found some other questions about the same expression, but they simplify this to another form: Finding $\si...

calculus algebra-precalculus trigonometry
Nov 19 '16 at 8:35, by Martin Sleziak
I wondered how the questions could be salvaged. (So that we do not lose answers posted there.)
Nov 19 '16 at 10:44, by Martin Sleziak
Would it be ok if I post a new question about the same identity (and with sufficient context) and then flag for merging?
Nov 19 '16 at 10:45, by Martin Sleziak
As I have mentioned above, I was not able to find a duplicate. (If such question already exists on the site, it would be a better target for merging.)
Nov 21 '16 at 9:25, by Martin Sleziak
@MartinSleziak I went ahead and posted new question about the same trigonometric identity.
10
Q: How can we show $\cos^6x+\sin^6x=1-3\sin^2x \cos^2x$?

Martin SleziakHow can we simplify $\cos^6x+\sin^6x$ to $1−3\sin^2x\cos^2x$? One reasonable approach seems to be using $(\cos^2x+\sin^2x)^3=1$, since it contains the terms $\cos^6x$ and $\sin^6x$. Another possibility would be replacing all occurrences of $\sin^2x$ by $1-\cos^2x$ on both sides and then comparin...

trigonometry
@GabrielRomon: So as you can see, in both cases this approach is not only fully in line with the goal of preserving question quality on Math SE, but also the moderators are more than happy to help to move quality answers to a good substitute for a bad question. Furthermore, Martin will be able to tell you that this approach is rather well received (even though Martin says that sometimes there will still be inexplicable downvotes on the new good question).
I guess you can ask @MartinSleziak if you wish to know his viewpoint (which differs from mine in certain respects), though we both find this approach acceptable.
 
Conversation ended Nov 19, 2017 at 12:57.