When is a comment not a comment?

Question

I've been seeing a lot of comment action lately that is somewhere between misguided and utterly superfluous. I grant the comment feature is a hard one to get used to¹ —particularly for those coming in from discussion forums— but I also see people that have been around a long time still sending mixed messages through their example. I think we could probably compose some guidelines for comments covering several issues that would be more specific to our site than the help page and easier to direct people toward than finding issue specific meta posts.

When should the comment feature be used and when should it be avoided?

¹ _{Which is one reason it's a privilege earned after some participation.}

Answer 1

Unlike the voting system (which is anonymous and mainly useful as a signal to other site visitors) the comment system is a feedback mechanism that can help the post author make a better post.

Comments…

• should suggest some action in response to the feedback. Don’t leave people hanging, give them something to do that can make your comment obsoleted.

  ✗ This question is so broad it would take a thesis to answer.

  ✔ This question needs a narrower scope. Please edit in which specific theological tradition you are interested in.

• may explain something about the site that might not have been discovered yet by the OP.

  ✔ You can make your post easier to read by dividing it into paragraphs using a blank line between each paragraph.

• should focus on the content of the post rather than the personality behind it.

  ✗ This is the third time you’ve asked about denomination X, what’s your beef with them anyway?

  ✔ Can you include some background on where this question came from? Are these direct quotes from a minister?

Comments on questions…

• may ask for clarification about what is being asked or the scope of the question.

• should help the OP along the road to a clear question that will elicit the answer they are looking for.

  ✔ This question is related to the topic of X, you might look at tag for ideas on how to more narrowly frame this question.

• should not answer the question. Don’t. Just don’t. If you know the answer to the question, post it as an answer.

  ✗ The simple answer to this question is…

• should not dish out spiritual advice. See: But can't I just say one thing?

• may link to other resources such as related questions on the site but may not link to things expected to substitute for an answer the question.

  ✗ Did you even read Wikipedia: ‹Article›?

  ✔ Related question on our sister site: ‹Question›.

Comments on answers…

• may ask for clarification about how a point answers the question if it isn’t clear.

• may ask the answer to further explain some aspect of the question not originally addressed.

• may correct factual details that can be reasonably corrected by the author without changing the substance of the answer.

• may inform the author that they missed something about the scope of a question (or that a question was edited) that they should take into account in their post.

• should not provide alternatives to a completely wrong answer. If an answer is just wrong and you feel the need to set the record straight, vote it down and then hit up that answer form and submit a better entry.

• should not explain how the beliefs described in an aswer are wrong theologically. If they wrongly represent the theological tradition asked about in the scope of the question that’s one thing, but if they are just flat out wrong then stay away from that comment link.