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103 votes
1 answer
3k views

Please stop posting half answers and bad advice as comments

Ok so I've spent a few days doing hardcore cleaning and we have a problem with comments and people misusing them. People who are too lazy to write a real answer so they write a half finished one ...
Jorge Castro's user avatar
  • 71.7k
77 votes
11 answers
3k views

What prewritten Pro-forma (aka AutoReviewComments) userscript comments can we use and share?

I'd like to gather a list of boilerplate comments (AKA canned responses) for Ask Ubuntu which can be used in combination with the awesome Pro-forma comments userscript. Post suggestions too, you are ...
48 votes
1 answer
2k views

PSA: When reviewing, don't post duplicate (and near-duplicate) comments!

As jrg♦ said (pinned in main chat): Hey folks who use "canned" comments: If you see one thats already there that expresses the same general idea, don't add another one. Thanks. :) This has ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
38 votes
0 answers
366 views

Please consider not leaving feedback as Community♦

Thanks for reviewing. I really appreciate it. Recently review got reformatted quite a lot. Personally, I don't like many of the changes. I guess I'm an old stick-in-the-mud. But about one feature in ...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 70.4k
35 votes
2 answers
691 views

Why are you only allowed to comment with 50 rep?

Why are you only allowed to comment on other people's posts when you reached 50 reputation? In my opinion comments are a good way to ask people to clarify their questions or add additional information ...
fly.floh's user avatar
  • 121
22 votes
1 answer
258 views

If you're having a repeat problem with a user…

... Bring it to the mods' attention. Don't take on the user multiple times. We've had a few separate instances over the last couple of months where higher-reputation users have actively (or passively) ...
Oli's user avatar
  • 293k
21 votes
1 answer
279 views

Is it okay to ask a user to accept an answer for his/her question?

Recently I have seen questions where few good answers were given but no answer was accepted and no comment was left on any answer i.e no activity from the user who asked the question. Is it okay to ...
binW's user avatar
  • 13k
20 votes
3 answers
472 views

Have I got this right -- no explicit 'thank you' wanted?

Asking my first question just a few hours ago, and almost immediately receiving excellent answers, I did my best to show my gratitude, which included voting up the answer as well as green-checking it. ...
Nick The Swede's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
326 views

When do comments become answers?

I find myself solving someone's problem step by step through the comments. When I finally find the solution, should I move the final solution to an answer and delete the comment or leave the comment ...
AlwaysTalkingAboutMyDog's user avatar
18 votes
3 answers
358 views

Should comments be flagged for "light" rudeness?

I will give the example of this answer. It was a bad answer, not much information in it, not really a good work around. A bad answer is a bad answer, we all understand that. Now, I look at the user ...
Bruno Pereira's user avatar
18 votes
1 answer
168 views

Flag answers that should be comments?

As new users can't comment, they sometimes posts answers that would have been comments if they could. Should we flag them so they can be cleaned up properly, or leave them alone because that's how the ...
Egil's user avatar
  • 14.2k
17 votes
1 answer
390 views

Pro-forma comments now support remote sources, should we set this up?

Pro-forma comments (the tool that let's us quickly paste precanned comments for common user questions now supports hosting the comments on a remote server: https://stackapps.com/questions/2116/...
Jorge Castro's user avatar
  • 71.7k
17 votes
2 answers
277 views

Off Topic Questions: Comment Etiquette

Lately I see a lot of comments from less experienced users (and some more experienced ones too) pointing out that questions about other OS etc are off topic and rightly so, they are. However, we ...
Mark Kirby's user avatar
  • 18.5k
16 votes
2 answers
460 views

What is the meaning of OP?

I regularly see the abbreviation OP used in comments and in questions on the meta site. What does it mean? Should a glossary be included in the FAQ? Or should OP be included in an existing glossary I ...
don.joey's user avatar
  • 28.7k
16 votes
1 answer
425 views

Is it OK if I call on a high reputation user on part of my answer if it seems difficult from that point?

I have an answer on which the new user who posted the question requires further help though they have accepted the answer... But it turns out I am short of some knowledge in the case. Can I, for ...
ThunderBird's user avatar
  • 1,955
15 votes
6 answers
275 views

What to do with answers posted as comments?

With questions like this (or this), the OP or someone else gives an answer but it's in the form of a comment, so the question is still marked "unanswered" even though it has been answered. ...
Wilf's user avatar
  • 30.2k
15 votes
3 answers
298 views

Comments in the answer section from new users

This addresses all the new users out there: Every day here I see new users commenting in the answer section and saying things like I don't have the rep to comment but.... It seems redundant that ...
Mark Kirby's user avatar
  • 18.5k
14 votes
3 answers
304 views

When do comments disappear?

I was browsing the main AU site, when I chanced upon the following comment in the question Why can't I turn on recommendations in software center?: Please provide additional information only by ...
ananaso's user avatar
  • 3,970
14 votes
1 answer
274 views

When are "you can do this different thing instead" answers considered good?

Sometimes someone asks how to do something that is very hard, unlikely to have the intended effects, or fundamentally impossible or meaningless due to an insufficient understanding of what it would ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
14 votes
2 answers
152 views

Can I cancel a vote for a comment?

I voted up for a comment and realized that it wasn't in fact such a great comment. I am not able to cancel my vote as I can do for questions or answers : "click again to undo" don't work. Is it just ...
Maxime R.'s user avatar
  • 3,820
13 votes
3 answers
313 views

Is it ok to comment and see if it works before answer?

Is it ok to comment an answer to the OP because you can't test it, and then you answer if it works? Or should you just answer?
fosslinux's user avatar
  • 3,821
13 votes
3 answers
299 views

Isn't the first step to post a comment rather than vote to close?

Can a question be closed without even a single comment? I have an example here in which I do understand that several voters close the question without asking for clarification: https://askubuntu.com/...
don.joey's user avatar
  • 28.7k
13 votes
1 answer
108 views

Can I get links to Comments?

At present, I can get specific links to Questions and Answers by share Option. But for Comments only ^ and ⚑ are available Sometimes comments contain Great Information and is very much help full. ...
Severus Tux's user avatar
  • 9,856
13 votes
1 answer
270 views

How do I comment on a post?

I see a bunch of comments on someone else's answer to several questions and I'd like to add one but I don't see how. I can provide my own answer, but all I really want to do is add a little bit to ...
Scott Ritchie's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
184 views

Suggestion: Use pro-forma/"review" comments when flagging certain answers

First of all, thank yous :) We have many wonderful community watchmen (too bad most of them don't have any super powers) who love to flag (thanks!) wayward answers, such as those that should really ...
RolandiXor's user avatar
  • 51.5k
12 votes
1 answer
178 views

If the answerer answers the question in the comments of their answer, should the OP accept that answer?

Let's say the question is: How do I open Terminal Quickly? I have been looking for an easy way or short-cut to open the Terminal quickly, so I don't have to find it in the Dash. And the answerer ...
Mochan's user avatar
  • 1,688
12 votes
1 answer
184 views

Why are my comment flags continually getting rejected?

A little while ago I asked (Should I flag comments such as “I agree”, “+1 for x”, or “I changed x in my post”?) if certain kinds of comments should be flagged as useless, and got told that I should ...
fouric's user avatar
  • 4,588
12 votes
2 answers
153 views

Can we improve the "better to include the essential parts" pro-forma comment?

I've seen the following problem a few times. Alice posts link-only answer. Bob reviews the answer and posts the following pro-forma comment: While this link may answer the question, it is better to ...
Oli's user avatar
  • 293k
12 votes
1 answer
142 views

Tone down "edited comment" icon

Compared to other SE sites I've participated in, especially SO, the icon for "this comment was edited" sticks out like a sore thumb on Ask Ubuntu. Could it be toned down? Here's my crude attempt, ...
user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
263 views

How to give credit to someone else when writing an answer based on a comment?

Let's say I posted a question. I did or didn't get some answers. But I also received some comments. Among them, one comment either answered my question or gave me hint to answer my own question. What'...
BlueSkies's user avatar
  • 2,145
11 votes
3 answers
186 views

How does @username commenting work?

I read in a comment that users can notify each other by starting the comment with @username. Assume I want to notify Marco Ceppi. Do I write @Marco Ceppi or @marco-ceppi? What does that user see? ...
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun's user avatar
11 votes
2 answers
87 views

Linking Encouragement

This isn't really a question, but I'm not exactly sure where to put it. I would like to request stack exchange linking rewards. Everyday many of the same questions are asked. Users that are ...
Sepero's user avatar
  • 4,557
11 votes
0 answers
143 views

Bug: Moderator not getting the mod tag but being tagged as a bot in mod actions for comments

This happened on this post's deleted comment - visible to moderators and staff as it's a deleted comment: This is a post done by a reviewer and masked by the Community bot. Mitch is an actual diamond ...
Thomas Ward's user avatar
  • 74.4k
10 votes
2 answers
193 views

What is the appropriate tone/voice for a non-mod giving suggestions?

I recently tried to give some advice on improving and eventually closing this RabbitVCS question: https://askubuntu.com/questions/516486 This included: suspecting the question was a duplicate, and ...
lofidevops's user avatar
  • 20.9k
10 votes
2 answers
206 views

What should we do to code that is posted in comments of post?

New users of Ask Ubuntu often post outputs of commands in comments (mostly without formatting it as code) when other users ask them for the output of commands. The code needs to be in the question and ...
Random Person's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
152 views

Should we commment on spam to get it deleted faster?

Recently I observe that obvious spam often gets far more down votes than spam flags would be needed for community deleting and locking: Should we in case of an obvious spam post leave a comment so ...
Takkat's user avatar
  • 142k
9 votes
2 answers
208 views

Formatting a comment

Is it possible to format a comment, as in, include blockqoute like properties? I've noticed that the help mentions that 'code' can be used for code, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Either ...
Projjol's user avatar
  • 1,100
9 votes
4 answers
257 views

Add a reply option for comments

Don't you think that it is a good idea to add a reply button to comments to questions and answers? Most people forget to type @username when replying which makes the person who made the previous ...
VidathD's user avatar
  • 2,694
9 votes
2 answers
199 views

How should users with low permissions indicate that an answer doesn't work?

Recently, a new answer popped up for a "resolved" question: I can't get this to work! I've tried to do it manually and in terminal but nothing works. [...] (why cant i post comments!?) Like a ...
Jjed's user avatar
  • 13.9k
9 votes
2 answers
301 views

Why are so many answers posted as comments? [duplicate]

Every morning I click on the unanswered link and every morning I see many of questions answered in the comments section. When this happens, person who asked the question cannot mark it as answered, it ...
marosg's user avatar
  • 1,303
9 votes
1 answer
190 views

Is it ok to announce downvoting in a comment which requests clarification if the user comments instead of editing?

Assume I request clarification in a comment on a question in the form of I see contradiction in the question in argument 1 and 2. Please edit!. Then, most users write a comment in reply without ...
Kalle Richter's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
111 views

Should I report comments (in any way at all) that aren't spam but aren't constructive?

I'm looking at this question in which someone is giving pretty unhelpful answers in the comments attached to the question. I don't think this person is really trying to be unhelpful, but the comments ...
strugee's user avatar
  • 1,092
9 votes
1 answer
185 views

LQ Review: Add canned delete comment for link-only within askubuntu.com (should have been flagged as duplicate)

Within the last weeks, I reviewed a growing number of answers from the Low Quality queue (or spotted them directly on the main site) that basically looked like this: Follow the answers at askubuntu....
Byte Commander's user avatar
  • 107k
9 votes
0 answers
108 views

Can I opt-out from receiving notifications from a particular post?

What are the default text editors in different flavours of Ubuntu? I asked the above question today, received some great answers, accepted an answer. And it solved the initial problem that I had plus ...
Yoginee Pingale's user avatar
8 votes
4 answers
283 views

Are people getting "rep shy"? || About "commentswers"

I keep bumping into questions with perfectly good answers that are not marked as accepted or can't even be marked nor voted because they're in comments. Even if you politely ask the "commentswerer" to ...
JorgeArtware's user avatar
  • 3,527
8 votes
3 answers
108 views

What should I do with shortened links in comments?

I read Shortened Link Cleanup Time! a few days ago, and since then have been on the lookout for shortened links. However, occasionally I find a shortened link in a comment, and comments, unlike ...
fouric's user avatar
  • 4,588
8 votes
2 answers
158 views

Change in domain name

My domain name changed from bodhizazen.net to bodhizazen.com All the .net links now apparently point to spam. I got a message about this in the comments from your staff here /usr/sbin/update-info-...
Panther's user avatar
  • 102k
8 votes
0 answers
51 views

Could we add on the 'about' page that questions should be edited to provide more information?

On both the about page it is explained how the site works. To my eyes, this should include that a user asking question should edit his post to improve it if some other users are asking clarification ...
gertvdijk's user avatar
  • 67.9k
7 votes
2 answers
254 views

What is the process to get those pro-forma-comments into the "central script"?

I am referring to the comments suggested in answers to share prewritten pro-forma-userscript comments. Need they upvoting or do they just need someone to do the work? (that someone could be me, of ...
guntbert's user avatar
  • 8,486
7 votes
1 answer
135 views

Is it OK to suggest to a user to increase overall accept rate?

When a user with a very low accept rate posts a new question, is it OK to comment, suggesting that the user accept some answers to other questions to raise their accept rate? I am not suggesting ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar