Timeline for Criteria for determining if a post should be a comment or an answer
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 10, 2018 at 17:14 | comment | added | David Richerby | Even if it doesn't cover the majority of the question being asked, it should be posted as an answer. Questions that encourage partial answers are probably too broad anyway. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 3:56 | comment | added | AJ Henderson Mod | @scottbb - there have recently been some mod deletions of answers as comments in response to some repeated use of comments for answers by the same users, that is part of what prompted wanting to further clarify what is or isn't ok as a comment from the community because as it is now, reasonable opinions could differ on what is proper usage of comments. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 3:49 | comment | added | scottbb Mod | @benrudgers I'd like to point out, again, that the usual course of action isn't for mods to delete "answerments". The vast majority of the time (that I can observe, as a non-mod), a community regular politely asks or encourages the commenter to post their comment as an answer, and links to the SAAC-PRTU meta discussion. Usually, the commenter posts the answer, and usually, the answer is better/more complete than the comment, and usually, receives upvotes. This is the way the community works. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 3:43 | comment | added | AJ Henderson Mod | @benrudgers also note that I didn't say anything in this about deletion. I don't think that we should be immediately deleting every single time someone first posts an answer as a comment, but if they are consistently doing so then it needs action to be taken to correct the behavior (or a meta discussion needs to happen to stop worrying about answers as comments entirely). Either way, it isn't currently clear if someone is following the previous guidance and that's what I'm trying to flush out here. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 3:39 | comment | added | AJ Henderson Mod | If people really want to make the site and internet better and want to participate constructively, they should be willing to follow the guidance of the community they are participating in or work on changing attitudes rather than simply ignoring the community's desires. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 3:37 | comment | added | AJ Henderson Mod | @benrudgers except that the reward for writing something that is half way to an answer isn't deletion. If it answers the question, it should be posted as what it is and it won't be deleted. The problem is people repeatedly ignoring the way the site is supposed to work. We don't leave long discussions in comments even if they are meaningful. We clean them up. Repeated misuse of the mechanisms of the site is a reason to address problem behavior via deletion or stronger actions if necessary. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 1:30 | comment | added | mattdm | @benrudgers I mean... if people don't want to participate helpfully in the way the site works, there's not all that much can be done. | |
| Dec 12, 2017 at 0:17 | comment | added | mattdm | In my experience, when someone takes that answer they thought wasn't good enough to be an answer and makes it into one, it gets voted up, not deleted. | |
| Dec 11, 2017 at 20:59 | history | answered | AJ HendersonMod | CC BY-SA 3.0 |