17
votes
If a complete answer is short, should it be a comment?
Like Richard Hardy (above), I think that attempts to answer the question should be done as "answers", not comments. This lets people up- (or down-)vote the proposed solution, provides a place for ...
- 21.3k
16
votes
Do you say "thank you" to commenters who solve your problem?
We commonly edit out "thanks" from the body of a question (see revision history on this Q). In the question, we want to get as quickly as possible to—and through—the relevant information.
...
16
votes
When we vote to close a question as "unclear" should we state why in a comment?
I agree -- where feasible we should try to help the poster understand how to fix their post, including trying to explain what's unclear whenever we're able to do so.
However, if someone else's ...
- 287k
16
votes
Accepted
Is it OK to use suggestions by other people to answer a question with a bounty?
See Etiquette for answering old questions addressed in comments?. I don't think anything changes just because a bounty's at stake. (If someone's really keen to win that bounty they needn't give ...
- 31.2k
14
votes
Accepted
Answering off-topic questions. Appropriate?
I sometimes answer questions and vote to close them at the same time. I don't see any problem with that. What I would do is leave a comment to the OP explaining that the question is off topic and ...
12
votes
Accepted
(Why) does CV post comments under my name and without notifying me?
This is what the software does when a user proposes that a question is a duplicate. The software isn't smart enough to figure out the contextual information about who authored which question, and the ...
SycoraxMod
- 92.6k
11
votes
Accepted
A mod removed my answer (referencing the answer from comments) to my question saying it doesn't answer it
"See so-and-so's comment" doesn't meet the standard for an answer on our site. Answers should be complete in themselves; for example, if BruceET was to delete his comment, your answer would be useless....
- 287k
10
votes
Accepted
Why did my comment get deleted?
From the help page on comments:
When shouldn't I comment?
Comments are not recommended for any of the following: ...
Compliments which do not add new information ("+1, great answer!"); ...
whuberMod
- 330k
10
votes
Accepted
What to do when an answer is wrong, but a comment box is too small?
Just so that this question has an answer:
One method is to post your own answer to the question. In passing, it can demonstrate that an alternative strategy is not correct.
If the answer to the ...
SycoraxMod
- 92.6k
10
votes
Accepted
When should an answer be given as opposed to just giving a hint
When it's not a homework-type question, a full answer is merited. People nevertheless sometimes leave hints in comments: I can't presume to speak for anyone else, but when I do that it's usually ...
- 31.2k
10
votes
When we vote to close a question as "unclear" should we state why in a comment?
In an ideal world, yes, we would patiently sit down with each poster, discuss what in particular is unclear about their question and guide them to a clear question, which we would then proceed to ...
- 129k
8
votes
How should I flag (or otherwise deal with) questions that have not been clarified after comments were left?
Not answering Glen_b's comment does not seem to have anything to do with this question being a candidate for closing. I'd say that this question is simply too vague/too broad, so I closed it (if ...
- 140k
8
votes
Accepted
Finding question with an interesting comment about ReLU activation functions?
I believe I found it: Vanishing gradient vs. dying ReLU? (youtube video here).
The reason you probably did not find the comment is because it was not shimao who ...
- 3,080
8
votes
Accepted
Can I move a conversation to chat before the 11 comments threshold?
Flag the post for Moderator attention, with a request to move the comments to chat.
whuberMod
- 330k
8
votes
Accepted
Why am I not notified and my reputation is not increasing when my comment is upvoted?
You ask about earning reputation for posting comments. Because comments are "second-class citizens" on SE, they do not accrue reputation and you are not notified of votes on them. The only thing ...
whuberMod
- 330k
8
votes
Should we encourage downvoters to leave a comment for their downvote?
Yes. Encourage we should and encourage we do.
In fact, StackExchange encourages it automatically: see Encouraging people to explain downvotes Meta.SE post from 2009 that was status-completed in 2015. ...
- 106k
7
votes
Accepted
Is it a good idea to leave an explanatory comment after flagging a question for migration to another SE site?
What about this possibility? You could leave a comment about the scope of topics on this site, mention your suggested destination and then suggest that the OP flag it to migrate rather than repost (...
- 287k
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to upvote comments?
Yes, there is. Hover over the left side of a comment and click in the up arrow to vote (try it in the sample comment I left under the question). Comments can't be downvoted. You will also see a flag ...
- 3,080
7
votes
Accepted
When to post a separate answer even when answered in comments
Network policy is to answer in answers rather than in comments. You're not supposed to actually answer the question with a comment.
We do tend to tolerate partial answers in comments on CV, ...
- 287k
7
votes
Should the comments be used to guide someone to the answer?
I think this question is self-study, or at any rate the OP can benefit from its being treated as such; & it's preferable that this back-&-forth is clearly visible to anyone else reading it. ...
- 31.2k
7
votes
Accepted
How can a new user with not enough rep comment on a question that the same user has previously asked while unregistered?
As @whuber notes, you need to register and merge your accounts. Here is my boilerplate text that provides the relevant information:
Please register &/or merge your accounts (you can find ...
7
votes
Accepted
How should I flag (or otherwise deal with) questions that have not been clarified after comments were left?
As a non-moderator, I think it's sufficient to write a comment asking for clarification & register a close vote at the same time. If a comment already asks for clarification, and you agree with it,...
SycoraxMod
- 92.6k
7
votes
How can we encourage new users to edit their closed posts?
I don't think there can be a simple yes/no answer to it.
As I am one of the close voters in the specific post mentioned, here is my two cents:
I am of the conviction that the message
Closed. This ...
- 9,597
7
votes
How can we encourage new users to edit their closed posts?
My policy is that I have four tiers of responses:
If it seems that OP didn't put minimal effort to write the question like properly formatting it, doing a trivial Google search, reading it before ...
- 140k
6
votes
Accepted
Any evidence-based arguments in favor of the "comments are not for extended discussion" policy?
What is the actual harm done by an extended discussion in the comments?
An extended discussion in the comments obscures any other comments that do not belong to this discussion. Simply because they ...
- 106k
6
votes
When should an answer be given as opposed to just giving a hint
There's no particular need to use the commenting feature. You can use comments or the answer field. The issue is that if the post is a homework-type question (people will sometimes say it's not ...
6
votes
Where is my comment?
I moved your comments in one question into a chat yesterday. The system automatically leaves a comment explaining that and in that comment is a link to the chat. You can read that comment at Proof ...
whuberMod
- 330k
6
votes
How can we encourage new users to edit their closed posts?
I guess, or hope, we all agree that it is better to be nice not nasty and that we want users to feel welcome rather than the opposite. Existing policy already allows detailed and friendly comment from ...
- 58.7k
5
votes
How best to leave comments on questions and answers in the review queue?
Answers
Link-only answer
Welcome to the site. At present this is more of a comment
than an answer. You could edit to expand it, perhaps by giving a
summary of the information at the link, or we can
...
- 81.7k
4
votes
What to do when an answer is wrong, but a comment box is too small?
I would probably go for one of these:
Ask clarifying questions.
These should ideally lead to edits to the answer instead of comment replies.
If the poster made unsupported claims or had a few missing ...
- 538
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible