In some cases, a collective may be decommissioned. When this occurs, all questions, answers, and articles associated with a collective remain accessible.
The data specific to the collective, such as membership and answer recommendations, is retained, but the UI elements are no longer visible to any user.
Published articles will become decoupled from the collective, but remain discoverable via conventional search methods. The article author may still make changes and updates as needed. Users with the "edit posts" privilege will also be able to make edits to articles. The article’s author will be notified about edits that occur. Users may still post comments, suggest changes, and vote on articles.
Aside from the URLs for published articles, URLs specific to the collective will resolve to a generic landing page noting that the collective has been decommissioned.
Will users still have access to their draft articles?
No. Authors with articles that were in a draft state can use the contact form to request that the text of the draft be provided to them.
What will happen to answers that have been recommended by the collective?
As with the other data specific to the collective, the "recommended" designation is retained, but the UI elements will no longer be visible to any user or available via the API, though those actions will still be visible in the post history. There is no reputation change associated with recommendations; therefore, reputation is not affected.