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I just answered a question on Stack Overflow here.

If you look at the history of the question my answer stands OK. But now the OP has changed the question due to some unknown reasons. Due to which now my answer has no link to the question.

So in this case should I delete the answer or wait for OP to make a correction to his/her question?

EDIT:- A user named MAT has now reverted the question to the original one. But I still wanted to know what should one do if this happens in future. I know as a disciplinary action one should delete the answer in that case, but what if the answer was OK for the original posted question?

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    @Jan: the Q here isn't really what is usually referred to as a "chameleon question" - those progressively change over time, asking more and more but as extensions to the same problem. That one started off as an apple and transmogrified into an orangutan.
    – Mat
    Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 13:53
  • @JanDvorak:- Yes I read this post before posting my question. But if you look to the question which I am refering is different. Here the OP has completely reverted the question. And it became off topic. So my answer in no sense remained valid. The questions which you are referring at are those in which user makes a little or slight change to get his doubts clear!! Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 13:55
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    @RahulTripathi the solution should be clear in an extreme case like this - revert. Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 13:57
  • @Bart:- Thanks a lot for giving a suitable title for my question!!! Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 14:23
  • Wow, from “Creation date of a file from multiple os” to “is programming considered manual labour?”. I don't even know what to say. Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 14:25
  • @OldCheckmark:- That is why I asked here!!! :) Commented Sep 14, 2013 at 14:26

1 Answer 1

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When a post is completely changed like that, when the revision has absolutely nothing to do with the original and invalidates all the existing answers, you should:

  1. Roll back the offending edit
  2. Leave a comment explaining to the OP that that's not tolerated.

(2 is optional, but a nice thing to do for new users who might not be aware of how we do things here.)

If you have a bit of time on your hands and feel like sticking around a bit, keep a tab open on that question. If the OP proceeds to override your rollback, do not dig in your trenches and start an all-out rollback war: simply flag the question, explain what's going on, and move on.
A moderator will take whatever action is necessary (rollback, possibly lock the post for a short while, and possibly ask (or force) the user to take a short break from the site if that is warranted).

Since edits bump posts on the front page, don't even worry about keeping tabs on it if you have better things to do - someone else will notice it and intervene.

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