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Is there a mechanism that allows me to “unsubscribe” from comment notifications on my answers? Ideally something that operates on a per-answer basis. Alternatively, can I mute certain people so their rants do not result in a notification?

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    You can't block people or disable comments yourself. If someone is ranting on your posts, flag the comments for a mod to look at, if it is that bad the mod can disable comments or take appropriate action.
    – Mark Kirby
    Aug 21, 2021 at 7:39
  • This is unfortunate. The comments are not breaking any community guidelines, so flagging them would waste people’s time. I’ll just have to continue ignoring asinine arguments about Software X vs. Software Y from people who are so uptight that it’s impossible for them to shrug their shoulders and move on 🤪
    – matigo
    Aug 22, 2021 at 14:10
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    @matigo that is breaking rules. Comments are for asking for clarification on a question and answer and are absolutely not for having discussions. Please flag such comments for mod attention so they can be deleted or moved to chat.
    – terdon
    Aug 23, 2021 at 11:01
  • @matigo Ignorance is bliss 😅 Aug 23, 2021 at 13:21

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There isn't a way to turn off notifications for comments on your posts. I've personally found a long series of comment notifications unwelcome on a few occasions. But I guess I am glad they can't be disabled since comments sometimes convey very important information.

The general attitude towards comments on SE is that they exist to help people work towards improving posts, though they do sometimes have some other kind of value. Once the improvement to the post has been effected, comments ought to be no longer needed. They are considered to be of transient value at best (though a substantial minority at least are worth keeping around).

Because of this philosophy of comments, it is felt that they may be removed casually. If a person has something of lasting importance to share, they had better put it into a post.

So, you should not hesitate to flag comments that are not of value. Comment flags are rarely declined. One of the things I try to do every time I visit any question or answer on Ask Ubuntu is scroll through the page looking for comments that can be cleaned up.

NB: This doesn't apply to meta, which, unlike the main site, exists in part to allow and preserve discussion. It's rarely desirable to remove comments on meta. However, if someone is trolling you with comments on meta do go ahead and flag.

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  • Is there any penalty for deleting comments? If comments are generally considered ephemeral, then I can write a script that can clear out my comments after a set period of time. However, if that flags my account for “suspicious activity”, then I would refrain … 🤐
    – matigo
    Dec 5, 2021 at 6:33
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    @matigo no, the system only cares about posts. We won't get any flags about deleted comments :)
    – Zanna Mod
    Dec 5, 2021 at 6:34

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