41
votes
Accepted
why are we not encouraging posting answers as an answer but not via comments?
You're always encouraged to answer questions as actual answers and not simply as comments. But it's really up to the individual users of the site to put in whatever effort they are most comfortable ...
slmMod
- 344k
37
votes
Accepted
How should we deal with question answered in the comments?
Answers posted as comments are fair game. Here's what Tim Post, the Director of Stack Overflow Communities has to say about it:
You don't have anything to feel guilty about. If the person was ...
terdonMod
- 215k
33
votes
why are we not encouraging posting answers as an answer but not via comments?
I am very opposed to answers as comments.
Using the comments robs us of the ability to vote up or down or suggest edits, and basically defeats the functioning of the Stack Exchange engine. And since ...
- 37.9k
27
votes
Accepted
Users deleting their questions after receiving answer as comment (stop answering in comments)
If you don't have the time to do that, then you don't have the answer.
Correct. So leaving a comment may be an acceptable approach.
I mention this because I have been chastised for leaving an "...
- 67.5k
24
votes
Should I refrain from correcting syntax/coding errors in answers? It seems like they aren't encouraged
Unfortunately reviewers are not perfect—and I think you just happened to run into two very, uh, not perfect reviews. Neither of the reject reasons are correct: fixing a syntax error clearly makes an ...
- 102k
22
votes
Users deleting their questions after receiving answer as comment (stop answering in comments)
Resisting the temptation to answer this in a comment... But yes, please, let’s write answers instead of comments (of course the users most likely to answer questions in comments are unlikely to read ...
- 352k
17
votes
Accepted
Is promoting another Stack Exchange site OK?
I see no issues with this.
I do this myself, especially if a user has asked bioinformatics-related questions in the past. This was a question about parsing and reformatting a Fastq file from a user ...
KusalanandaMod
- 267k
16
votes
Users deleting their questions after receiving answer as comment (stop answering in comments)
I would add this a comment but....
I have a general rule:
If a question is worth typing up an answer, then it is likely worth an up vote.
So I will often up vote a question before I provide an ...
- 3,969
15
votes
Accepted
Is it deemed decent practice to post a comment on someone's answer to invite him/her to answer my own question?
I would prefer that people not do this.
Questions are already "linked" in that they are, or should be, tagged appropriately. People who are interested in specific topics tend to follow those tags, so ...
- 67.5k
15
votes
Self-promotion inside of comments, sometimes OK?
I don't think it's okay to link to your own site without disclosure, whether in a comment or an answer. I mostly agree with terdon's answer here. I see this as just setting a slightly higher bar: if ...
- 1,561
14
votes
Accepted
When to "Comment", and when to "Answer"?
I'll refer to our Help Center's section on the "Comment" privilege, in part:
When should I comment?
You should submit a comment if you want to:
Request clarification from the author;
...
- 62.9k
14
votes
Why is the reputation required to answer a question enormously high at 50?
No reputation is required to answer a question; from the list of privileges:
1 create posts Ask a question or contribute an answer
(And you presumably know this, since you’ve answered questions on ...
- 352k
13
votes
Accepted
Was my behavior correct in this situation?
First off, thank you for taking the discussion to Meta instead of in comments! This is the right place to hash out "meta" level discussions like this one.
Second, sorry to hear about your ...
- 62.9k
11
votes
Accepted
flag comments that only beg for an answer as non-constructive
Yes, the flag was appropriate. The comment was indeed non-constructive and the flag was fine.
There is no point in such comments and I think they are usually from people new to SE who consider that ...
terdonMod
- 215k
11
votes
Users deleting their questions after receiving answer as comment (stop answering in comments)
IMO, the comments are a valuable part of the ecosystem and of helping users.
Making comments is a part of the game and the interactive process of interacting with the OP and community at large to ...
- 53.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Deal with a question that doesn't have a proper answer But might help others
If the only fix you found was reinstalling, you can just post an answer saying that and accept it. Or I can close the question as non-reproducible (since a reinstall fixed it, it was probably ...
terdonMod
- 215k
9
votes
Users deleting their questions after receiving answer as comment (stop answering in comments)
Overall agreed. However, here is a case where it is appropriate:
When the "answer" is to point out the typo in the code in the question that is causing it not to work.
This should be accompanied by ...
- 33.5k
9
votes
Self-promotion inside of comments, sometimes OK?
I feel it's OK for very specific cases. The trigger for this discussion was a user who had posted links to relevant posts on their blog as comments on various questions/answers here. Yes, they had not ...
terdonMod
- 215k
8
votes
Accepted
Comments of thanks
Well, lets just say that Gilles is willing to have a thanks each time someone finds one of his answers helpful. You know what would happen?
Not very useful, right? How can he find what needs his ...
- 33.8k
8
votes
A disagreement about the rules on non-answer answers
To give some more background, this is the text I got to review:
Is udev running in your server?
This and only this version of the post by Alvaro is of interest. Because the discussion was about ...
- 75k
8
votes
why are we not encouraging posting answers as an answer but not via comments?
I believe there are legit reasons to provide an answer (or sometimes a hint) in a comment if:
the question should not be answered (it's silly, duplicate, off-topic etc.) and either
the question lacks ...
- 6,834
8
votes
Accepted
Is it OK to debate in comments?
No, comments are not for extended discussion.
From the Tour page:
This site is all about getting answers. It's not a discussion forum. There's no chit-chat.
Further, from the Help Center on the ...
- 62.9k
8
votes
Was my behavior correct in this situation?
Was I wrong in flagging it as not an answer? Or better, why was i wrong to flag it as not an answer?
The "not an answer" flag is incorrect in this context. The answer is a direct response ...
- 14.3k
7
votes
Should I refrain from correcting syntax/coding errors in answers? It seems like they aren't encouraged
Fixing a wrong command is indeed a good edit, it's a shame yours got rejected. In the future, don't add the edit comment in the post just to get over the 6-character limit. Instead, fix some syntax / ...
- 6,834
7
votes
Is it deemed decent practice to post a comment on someone's answer to invite him/her to answer my own question?
I think it’s OK.
I’m somewhat able to answer questions about shell scripts, awk and sed
(among other things), but I don’t always monitor the corresponding tags.
If somebody sees from one of my ...
7
votes
Unfriendly or unkind flag rejects stick even after flagged comments are deleted
You've raised several discussion points in your question, so I'll try to tackle the ones I noticed.
I notice that my flags are rejected. This is astonishing, because by any reasonable interpretation ...
- 62.9k
6
votes
A disagreement about the rules on non-answer answers
I don't understand the problem here. An answer is something that offers a solution to the problem, explaining how that solution can be implemented. Even in its latest incarnation, the answer in ...
terdonMod
- 215k
6
votes
Accepted
Comment, edit post on meta with 1 rep?
Users can independently of reputation edit and comment on their own posts. This works in meta the same as the main site.
- 33.8k
5
votes
Self-promotion inside of comments, sometimes OK?
I'm quite new to this whole SE universe, so either my comments are uneducated, and therefore serve no value, or they are fresh eyes and could be helpfull. So, here goes...
I think a link, answer, ...
- 1,368
5
votes
Accepted
Did I post a comment on this answer?
Comments can be deleted by the people who posted them as well as moderators, but in this case it was actually an entirely different answer. The author deleted the existing answer and posted an almost ...
- 86.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible