I answered a question whose formulation had (possibly thru an OP's lack of familiarity with English-language rules for capitalization) effectively limited responses to it to the context of a single universe, rather than one or more of the local universes of an inflationary multiverse. An edit suggesting a modification of the question's title to include local universes has been rejected, so, am I allowed to back my answer off by back-spacing, rather than using PSE's "deletion" process?
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3$\begingroup$ I don't understand the question. What's "back-spacing"? Do you mean you want to delete the text of the answer by pressing the backspace key? Have you tried that? The system shouldn't actually let you save an empty answer. If you want to get rid of the answer, why would you not want to do so by deleting it? $\endgroup$– ACuriousMind ModMar 27, 2022 at 22:30
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$\begingroup$ Yes, I mean "by pressing the backspace key" repeatedly. I haven't actually tried it, but, plainly, posting an answer that does not apply to the question is not going to enhance my practical reputation. PSE's international enough that a substantial proportion of its participants are unaware of capitalization rules in English, and the OP has not been on the site for a long time, so my own opinion is simply that the edit (which bore on language, not physics) should've been accepted, except for the risk that I might start gathering points on a basis only indirectly related to physics. $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 27, 2022 at 22:43
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1$\begingroup$ ...so what's wrong with using the "delete" button? I'm very lost as to what "capitalization rules" have to do with wanting to "eliminate" an answer but not wanting to just delete it. $\endgroup$– ACuriousMind ModMar 27, 2022 at 22:54
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$\begingroup$ Well, my top math was trig, so I have to stay in touch thru verbiage. Re the ? at hand, the OP was (per my best guess) interested both in single universe & in multi-universe pictures, and I had been trying to figure why Poplawski had felt his spherical LU's to be capable of "indefinite expansion" rather than a Big Crunch per se, so the OP's question had led me to answering a question of my own. I'd thought the edit would go thru, because it does cover both the single-universe and multiverse possibilities: Without the suggested capitalization, though, my answer doesn't apply. $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 27, 2022 at 23:10
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$\begingroup$ Capitalization of locality names is not required in all languages: It is required in English, even though it leaves us with a Miami in Fla. & a Miami in Ohio. But many non-native speakers want to capitalize Universe, becuz it's larger & so are the capital letters. $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 27, 2022 at 23:14
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$\begingroup$ More directly to your point, I live in a city where PSE has a big office, and the buzz is that deletions are poison. $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 27, 2022 at 23:23
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$\begingroup$ @Edouard I was one of the ones that rejected your edit. Changing "universe" to "universe (or Universe)" does not add anything to the question. The capitalization of "universe" is not universally accepted, and for instance the NASA style guide proscribes it. And in any case, if the capitalization is wrong, it should be changed, not have both capitalizations added in. $\endgroup$– Chris ModMar 28, 2022 at 0:03
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$\begingroup$ Well, it's nice to hear that an organization which did arithmetic badly enough to throw a multi-million dollar object at Mars, and miss, agrees with you....I'll have a look at its manual, but I'm expecting I'll find it's only proscribing the capitalization of the non-multiversal variety of universe. $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 28, 2022 at 0:11
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3$\begingroup$ as a native speaker of english, i regularly ignore capitalization rules for artistic purposes. $\endgroup$– rob ModMar 28, 2022 at 0:23
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$\begingroup$ I'm taking the long & short of this exchange to mean that any participant can reasonably decide, after reading a post, whether or not whatever "universe" an OP is asking about either includes, or consists of, a "multiverse", a "duo-verse", or a "single universe": Does that seem reasonable, in the context of any such post? (If only because of the ideogrammatic /alphabetic dichotomy, this could save me a lot of typing.) $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 28, 2022 at 0:40
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Never. If you want to delete your answer, delete it. If you vandalize your answer as you've described, it will likely be deleted or reverted back to its original form in short order.
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$\begingroup$ Because of the ambiguity between "1 hour ago" and the "24 min. ago" on my immediately preceding post, the meaning of "Never" remains unclear. $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 28, 2022 at 1:06
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7$\begingroup$ I answered the question in the title: Never. Not now. Not ever. You should not vandalize your answer now or then. You should not vandalize it in a box. You should not vandalize it with a fox. You should not vandalize it in a house. You should not vandalize it with a mouse. $\endgroup$– Chris ModMar 28, 2022 at 1:29
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2$\begingroup$ You may like vandalization, you will see. You may like it in a tree! $\endgroup$ Mar 28, 2022 at 1:55
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$\begingroup$ Relax; the style manual has me convinced, due to my affinity for other people who are weak at arithmetic. Of course I want my pearls of wisdom to remain untarnished until the end of time, and beyond...! I will try to keep that disability and demi-senile clumsiness which keep my hand straying toward the backspace key under CONTROL ! $\endgroup$– EdouardMar 28, 2022 at 2:30