recreating a rightfully deleted question

Question

Today I started answering a question about pdf conversion (to djvu). The problem was already resolved as the conversion had been done by two helpful SX-ers, as was clear from the comments. I still wanted to answer, as I was pretty sure the OP could have solved this himself with his original Ubuntu 12.04 setup.

During the process of answering I realised that the original material (linked from some upload site), was copyrighted, and flagged the question for moderator attention. I proposed the moderator to remove the links to the offending material, without which the question still would have merit (especially with my upcoming answer).

Before finishing my answer (to be sure, I tested the procedure on the actual problem file and a 300+ page document takes some time), the question was deleted. No slagging moderators on this site!

The question in itself however could have helped others. Should I recreate this question (of course without unnecessary links to copyrighted materials?) and then provide the answer to this question?

I know I can answer my own question, but this is not really my question and it feels like stealing someone’s idea after causing it to be suppressed in the first place. On the other hand if I recreate it and answer it, at least some of the OPs intentions live on on *nix. If I recreate it, should I credit the OP ( a 2K+ rep user)?

Answer 1

The question seemed too localized, since it dealt with errors encountered converting that specific file. Without the link to that file, people can't really debug the problem or test their solutions, and since the problem was already fixed in the comments, I didn't see what use other people would get out of the question.

Since you apparently do have a generic way to solve these problems, I undeleted the question and rewrote it to not refer to that particular file. I put in a request to remove the copyrighted link from the history, and then the question should be good