# Should plainly incorrect answers be deleted?

This very interesting question has an answer that relies on the dubious assumption that the frequency response of time-varying systems exists in continuous time.

I believe the answer is blatantly wrong and should not appear on the site and should be deleted. However, since I've been involved in the discussion in the comments there, I don't think it's up to me to do that.

I've given a specific example, but my general question is:

• Should plainly incorrect answers be deleted?

• What happens if they are the accepted answer?
• Just for the sake of argument: when should an answer be deleted vs downvoted? An answer with many downvotes could be a kind of warning to readers that, even if the answer may seem sensible at first sight, the community believes it is actually wrong. – MBaz Oct 11 '16 at 0:34
• @MBaz I've deleted answers in the past when they are spam, self-promotion, or duplicate answers to multiple questions. You make a good point, though: we should let the voting process run it's course... I'm just not sure there are enough voters on his question to get a good read. It's a little theoretical. – Peter K. Oct 11 '16 at 0:45
• Yeah, I agree that some answers need to be deleted (I've flagged a few myself). I was thinking about answers such as the one you linked. Personally, I've never downvoted a question because of the reputation hit (I know that's silly). Maybe I should start with this one.... – MBaz Oct 11 '16 at 1:24
• From the comments of that answer, it was clear that it was disputed, which is a warning sign to the reader. – Olli Niemitalo Oct 11 '16 at 11:53
• @OlliNiemitalo “The four stages of acceptance: 1. This is worthless nonsense. 2. This is an interesting, but perverse, point of view. 3. This is true, but quite unimportant. 4. I always said so." – msm Oct 12 '16 at 15:18

• Again: My problem is only with $=0$ part of your "definition" in (1), (3), and (4). Why is changing of subject? Is cross-correlation always zero by definition? – msm Oct 13 '16 at 23:00