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As an answer to this question, I wrote an answer in the "programming language" 2014 (screenshot). The answer was deleted, accompanied with this note:

I'm temporarily removing this post in compliance with our policy about answers not meeting the challenge specification. Please feel free to edit your answer and to flag it for moderator attention so it can be undeleted.

I understand if joke programming languages were outright banned, but I've seen them be used effectively to solve specific challenges before. My confusion essentially boils down to two questions:

1) What are the limits for these kinds of languages? For answers like this, it is pretty clear that when the language is used creatively, it is allowed.

2) What kind of edit would I be able to make to have the answer undeleted without changing the essence of the answer?

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    \$\begingroup\$ meta.codegolf.stackexchange.com/questions/2028/… 2014 is definitely not a programming language. Just because other answers don't follow the rules and don't get deleted doesn't mean that you don't have to follow them. On the other hand, I think your answer is intresting and should be kept, though non-competing. \$\endgroup\$
    – Pavel
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 2:37
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm voting to close this as a duplicate of What are programming languages?, though Definitive policy about answers not meeting the challenge specification would also be a good dupe target. Both of those have answers that answer this question. \$\endgroup\$
    – user45941
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 10:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mego Maybe they have an answer to question 1, but they don't really go near question 2 \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel M.
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 11:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DanielM. Sure they do: use a real programming language \$\endgroup\$
    – user45941
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 11:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mego If I change the programming language, it becomes a different answer. I might as well just post a new answer. Anyways, I wouldn't feel comfortable keeping the upvotes made on a fundamentally different answer. "Edit" implies that it's possible to have a 'good' answer without changing the whole point of the answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel M.
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 11:30
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DanielM. The point was not that you should edit the deleted answer to use a different language - it's that you shouldn't have made an answer using a joke language in the first place. But you did, and it got deleted. There's no way to salvage it. \$\endgroup\$
    – user45941
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 11:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Mego Not according to the original moderator comment on the answer. Which brings us back to question 2 \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel M.
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 11:34
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    \$\begingroup\$ @DanielM. The moderator comment is a canned response. Every answer that gets deleted for not complying with the specification or site-wide rules gets that exact same comment. Some answers are salvageable. This one is not. \$\endgroup\$
    – user45941
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 11:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ It should also be noted that although the language has an esolangs page, and it's in the category "Implemented", I cannot find the interpreter. \$\endgroup\$
    – mbomb007
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 15:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mbomb007 I'm pretty sure it was implemented in some IRC bot. If an implementation is necessary, I'll be happy to provide one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Daniel M.
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 15:34

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1) What are the limits for these kinds of languages? For answers like this, it is pretty clear that when the language is used creatively, it is allowed.

That isn't clear to me at all. My (personal) opinion is that the post uses a non-programming language, so creative or not, it isn't valid. I won't delete it unilaterally though.

In general, post X wasn't deleted so it is valid is a broken-window argument. I deleted your post because it was flagged for moderator attention. If it hadn't been, I would probably have missed it.

2) What kind of edit would I be able to make to have the answer undeleted without changing the essence of the answer?

This is my standard response when I delete answers, and I mention editing in case the affected user isn't aware that he can still edit mod-deleted answers. Apologies for the confusion. However, if you happen to know a different language that solves this task in zero bytes, you could fix your answer without changing the essence.

That said, there is no rule that says you cannot change "the essence" of an answer. Soft-deleted answers are forever visible to users with access to moderator tools, so unless there's a compelling reason to post a new answer instead of editing a deleted one, the latter is preferable.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I would say that drastically changing the content of an answer is a compelling reason to post a new answer rather than editing and undeleting an existing one. Since users who voted on the answer won't know if/when it gets deleted without actively stalking the post, their votes likely won't be changed, which means that that answer has votes on it from when it was a completely different answer, and the voters would likely vote differently (especially in the case of downvotes). \$\endgroup\$
    – user45941
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 20:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm confused. I thought we decided that answering in a non-programming language was allowed. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nathan Merrill
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 23:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NathanMerrill I don't think a +16/-6 answer is enough to overthrow an established consensus that currently stands at +59/-4. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dennis Mod
    Commented Dec 2, 2016 at 23:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ 59/-4 is over a long period of time, and it didn't really present any alternatives. The point of the post was to establish a consensus despite multiple conflicting posts \$\endgroup\$
    – Nathan Merrill
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 0:27

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