First of all, something that really struck me in your suggestion was the word "force". We should never, ever force anything on this site - with the exception being the removal of malicious content. We cannot and should not force users to do anything, as long as they aren't harming the site gravely.
Next, you largely post speculation about just how much work it really is for the moderators. I contest your claim, as I've mostly seen questions with comment answers either deleted (because they're too simple, etc.), or answered completely.
Then there's this section:
Even if that user finds a question with the same issue he/she has and enters to participate with the hope to bring the question back to life will find out that as per little or no rep he/she won't be able to comment on a question that's been dead for months in order to remind someone that he/she shares this problem and needs an answer, so this new user will have to post a duplicated answer.
I don't really understand what you're saying here. Why would this new user post an answer if they share the problem? They should upvote it, or add it to their favorites, maybe link it somewhere - and wait for an answer. Or post a new question, that may or may not be duped to the original answer (for good reason). These all help to raise awareness of the question, which a comment wouldn't even do (as it doesn't push the question to the front page, and doesn't affect it in any outside-visible way either).
Your suggested alternative is also already implemented. New users are shown the /about page already, and they're bombarded with information on how to post, where to post it and more importantly: what not to do. This is also largely unrelated to the topic at hand - answers as comments have nothing to do with the new user experience, with the exception of not receiving a proper answer - which may have entirely different reasons.
And finally, to your three suggestions:
- That there was an easy way to politely suggest/remind the asker to mark an answer as accepted.
There is: You can always post a comment to inform them that they might add that as an answer.
We even have a canned comment for that:
[A]Half answer in a comment
Can you include a answer with instructions on how to do that? Leaving a half-answer as a comment can often cause more harm than good. Thanks.
This should cover most "comment answers".
- That a new flag function be created to force a comment into the answers where it belongs.
This has also already been suggested - And it was disagreed with. There are good reasons to post an answer as a comment - and an active user will openly tell you why and might even turn it into an actual answer once they think it's reasonable.
- And that the new users are required to read and acknowledge the about page before they post anything with the benefit of gaining the right to post comments since day one (subject to loosing this privilege if misused).
You cannot force people to read anything. This will just mean more work, because comments will have to be reviewed just like first answers or first questions - people need to look at them to remove the privilege from those who misuse it. Which just is not worth the effort for something that has always been a second class citizen.
The comment privilege is already open enough:
Please note that you can always comment on your own posts, and any part of your questions. However, commenting on other people's posts is a privilege.
