Question: I ran across a [deleted answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3695396/what-is-the-best-way-to-run-your-program-code-after-fixed-intervals/3695447#3695447) to a question that, although not helpful to the questioner's particular situation, may be helpful to others who find themselves in similar situations.

We can't comment on deleted answers, and even if we could, [the author wouldn't receive a notification](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/38461/allow-comments-on-deleted-answers). Jeff's answer suggests that a notice for the revision wouldn't make it either.

I'd like to encourage the author to undelete the post.

Answer: 
Votes on deleted posts affect rep until your next reputation recalculates — which you can request from a moderator by flagging one of your own posts and asking nicely. You can preview what the recalculated rep will be through /reputation, as you saw. (So there's not much point if it's close to what you have now.)

**Balance**

There is something of a limit to rep loss for a bad question/answer merely because people hesitate to vote down most negative posts. In fact, given the disparity of reputation (+5/10 for upvote, -2 for downvote), a highly negative answer can still be a net rep gain!

**Flagging Behavior**

Flagging is different, and you do lose 100 rep (for non-CW posts only). That requires 6 flags within 2 days. These posts are then deleted similarly to when you self-delete. However, they are also locked to prevent undelete votes (from 10k+ users).
* You would gain 6 rep per hour. The effect of flagging [depends on the type of flag](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/22174/how-does-the-offensive-flag-work/22175#22175).
* You lose the rep, but not
permenantly. You can get it back by flagging one of your posts for moderator attention
and asking for a rep recalc (as Diago said) ([see this](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/18308/how-do-deleted-posts-affect-rep)).
* Votes still have the same values no matter what the score of the post is ([see this](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1390/should-we-reduce-rep-bonus-for-upvotes-on-posts-with-a-negative-score)).