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This question popped back onto the main screen recently:

Why did Facebook not use HSTS for a long time after it became available?

Both the question and all answers are now incorrect, because Facebook now use HSTS. I'm not sure when they started doing so.

I have edited my answer to include a warning, but I wonder: how do we want to deal with this? Some questions have been closed because the answers would be too transient, but that seems a shame, as I think the question was interesting and useful at the time.

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I think what you have done is probably the best first step. I think the question can now be closed as well - it doesn't mean deleted. With your edit, and the votes, it can be seen that this was valuable at a point in time, but is no longer current.

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    Closed, unless edited for reopening, is a road to deletion, as can be read here: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/10582/…. While I agree that the question is outdated, I'm still convinced it is of great value to new users.
    – Michael
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 11:42
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    MIchael - no, if you read the answer, that is very much not what is said. In fact it is explicitly called out that there is no definite road to deletion for closed questions unless there are no answers.
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 11:46
  • "Closed questions can and should be edited to improve them and address the reasons why they were closed in the first place." As far as my understanding of that statement goes, questions get closed because they are in one of the categories of questions that may get closed, meaning they can be deleted if not modified.
    – Michael
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 11:48
  • If you want to take that view, anything can be deleted, but read the answer. Many posts are closed with no intention of ever deleting, as they are valuable.
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 11:51
  • That was a quote from the answer. Anyway that's my opinion, and I'll let the community do the rest. For me it was a very valuable answer, and it would be a pity if it would be deleted. If closing is standard practice to archive questions, then that's a possibility with which I won't disagree. However, I'm strongly against a deletion.
    – Michael
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 11:54
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    I think it's a valuable one as well, and worth retaining for posterity, but having it open is unnecessary.
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 12:21
  • Deleted questions can be undeleted and historically locked. Perhaps rephrasing it as "Why was Facebook so late to adopt HSTS?" might help.
    – Damian Yerrick
    Commented May 23, 2015 at 15:37
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    I think the question could still stand on its own - if the question and answers are edited to remove the focus on "why Facebook doesn't" and leave it as a general q, "Why would anyone not". I.e. the downsides to using it and possible reasons to not. @paj28 what do you think?
    – AviD Mod
    Commented May 24, 2015 at 20:56
  • @AviD - I'm cool with anything there is a consensus for
    – paj28
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 3:57
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    No, Michael is right. Closure (exclusind duplicates) is meant to be a transitory state, either towards reopening (usually after edits) or towards deletion. Closure also says “this should not be answered”. This question should be answered and should not be deleted. It should not be closed. It's still valuable now, less so than it used to be, but it's absurd to say that it's now off-topic.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 15:48
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    @Gilles I am only barely a member of this community, but for SE in general, Rory is correct; not all closed questions are intended to be deleted. See this question and in particular Shoq9's answer to it. While your opinion is represented there, it's represented by the lowest answer on the list.
    – Joe
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 21:45
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    Really this isn't very different from the historical lock issue from way back when; this is a question that has some historical value, but you don't actually want new answers to, right? That's exactly what closed says to me.
    – Joe
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 21:46
  • @Joe No, we do want new answers.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 22:14
  • Why do we want new answers @gilles? As far as I can see this is done, the accepted answer is correct, and it will not change ever again
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 22:16
  • @RoryAlsop Someone could still post a better answer, same thing as any other question with an accepted answer. Case in point: all the current answers are lacking in that they don't explain why Facebook started to use HSTS, which would throw new light on why their arguments for using it now didn't apply or didn't carry as much weight before.
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 22:29
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I agree, the question remains useful. It's now a question about the history of security mechanisms instead of current usage of security mechanisms. It's also a question about when to use and not to use HSTS, just as it was before.

The question and, where relevant, should be updated to not imply that Facebook currently doesn't use HSTS. (Done, at least for the question.) It would be a good complement for answers to explain why Facebook changed their policy, as it would inform the decision of someone deciding whether to use HSTS for their site.

There's no reason to close the question. It hasn't magically stopped being on-topic or answerable. There's still room for someone to post a better answer. The reason we close questions is because we don't want them to be answered, for one reason or another (already answered elsewhere, not the right place for people to evaluate answers, impossible to write a good answer, …). Answers to this question still remain worthwhile an on-topic, so the question should remain open.

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