My initial answer (and first answer written on here) was deleted, but has thankfully been re-instated. I've never had an answer deleted before in 7 years or using various StackExchange sites, so it was somewhat of a shock and frustrating as it had taken a couple of hours to compile the answer.
I certainly agree that my answer was not within the correct style of the site and did require heavy editing to get it re-accepted.
I guess from all the Trump controversy posts moderation on here has gotten much harder.
As is mentioned in this other meta question, the problem is that as a newbie there didn't appear to be an obvious way to appeal the decision. As a result I grumpily commented on the original question, which I now regret.
It was only because of a friendly comment in chat, that I even considered that it would be possible to get the answer undeleted. Then I took a guess, edited my answer and asked further comments in chat.
I did fully read through the deleted help page, but abondoned searching for an answer before clicking through to the FAQ.
I think answers are more likely to be deleted on here than on other SE sites because topics are typically more controversial. So would it make sense to directly add the section about 'How can I undelete one of my posts?' from the deleted FAQ directly into the help page?
Having been through the process of getting something re-instatate, I think it's a reasonable course to take that the answer gets deleted until such time as it is edited to remove the causes for it's deletion. However it might be possible to make the deleted help page more friendly / more complete with information as it is a more regular cause of action.
It could be as simple as:
If you believe your answer has been unfairly deleted, please ask a question in chat / meta
Or the full text:
How can I undelete one of my posts?
Self-deleted posts can be viewed and undeleted by their original authors. However, self-deleted questions cannot be edited by their authors unless undeleted first. Self-deleted answers can be edited by the author without undeleting.
Normally, if your deleted post is not self-deleted, you can't undelete it yourself (though you may be able to vote to undelete). An exception: if an answer is deleted from Low Quality review queue by "Recommend Deletion" votes, without three trusted users voting to delete, then it can be undeleted by the author.
If your post was deleted by trusted users, it will require three undelete votes to be undeleted - politely asking for this on Meta may attract the necessary votes if you make a good case for why the question should be restored.
If your post was deleted by a moderator, you can flag one of your other posts and write a note in the "other" section explaining the situation and requesting undeletion.
If your post was deleted by the Community user, you can vote to undelete it.
Note: deleted questions do not appear in search results, so you if you wish to later undelete a question that you've deleted you must have saved the URL somewhere. Users with 10K reputation and up can also mark questions as a "favorite" and find them later from the Favorites tab on their profiles. Only moderators can search for deleted posts, nobody else. ("10k users" can search among their deleted posts.)
Deleted posts that are no more than 60 days old (since the creation date) are listed under "recent deleted questions" or "recent deleted answers".
