<p>As another contributor to that that discussion - I would, of course, happily delete my comments if they were no longer relevant to the provided answer, but I can see that there's a benefit in the discussion as currently recorded. In cases like this, I think it should be the decision of the original answerer whether to edit or remove their post, or not. Because the discussion in the comments seems potentially educational, and future readers are unlikely to be left confused by it, there doesn't seem to be an urgent need for the answer to be removed nor for the answerer feel obliged to "fix" it in an edit.</p>

<p>I regret the lack of a "whoops!" button for those moments when you realise that you've posted something that contains a stupid mistake (I am speaking here in general, rather than in the case of the OP), but where if that mistake were pointed out, the answer retains value for future readers. If there was a user who posted under their real name, for instance, leaving their "not thought through" answer associated with their account might be particularly embarrassing - professional reputation etc. But if there were a virtual version of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Smithee" rel="nofollow">Alan Smithee</a> on whom the disowned post could be hung, it would be possible to leave the answer hanging there without shame. Perhaps this is a somewhat playful suggestion, but in somewhat related circumstances I can remember an answer that @whuber abandoned and opened up to community wiki when he realised his method contained a flaw that he couldn't see how to fix, but felt the answer still contained enough value to persist and hoped other contributors might be able to fix the gap. I thought that was an interesting alternative to just deleting the answer.</p>
