The faq for Ask Ubuntu ... as well as, I assume, all of the Stack Exchange sites (?) ... states in the "How Do I Ask Questions Here?" section
If other users ask you for more information in the comments, edit your question using the edit link just below your original question.
Of course, people do not listen. A lot of users, both new and old, do not follow the suggested convention and respond to a comment with another comment. But I think new users are more likely to reply with a comment which reads like the text below.
irrational@MB-VB-Ubu32:~$ sudo fdisk -l Disk /dev/sda: 8589 MB, 8589934592 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1044 cylinders, total 16777216 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0x000015d2 Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 2048 12582911 6290432 83 Linux /dev/sda2 12584958 16775167 2095105 5 Extended /dev/sda5 12584960 16775167 2095104 82 Linux swap / Solaris
My point is that if you could convince any of the SE users to alter their behavior, you might benefit most if you focused on the newest users.
Stack Exchange already restricts the capabilities of the newest users, those with 10 or less points. Why not add one more restriction and not allow the restricted new users to comment in the context of their own questions?
Note: I am not proposing any restriction to comments in other people's questions, only in their own.
Spending too much effort in a fruitless attempt to change human nature is clearly pointless. But as changes go this one seems less radical. And the policy of the site as expressed in the faq does seem to be to encourage responding via updates to the question and discourage comments.
Perhaps a minor tweak like restricting new users from commenting in their own questions would be a desirable step in this direction?
Re: notifications following edits to a question or answer
I asked the question linked below on meta stackoverflow to see what feedback I would get.
