Can we have a clarification on what is and is not acceptible for discussion in comments?

Based on this question and its responses, I can see it may be policy to redirect extended comment discussions that have got away from the question/answer to chat. Putting aside my particular thoughts on how exactly this could be done, having looked at some of the cited examples, I can see it's a good idea to try to do this.

However, I've just found that a comment I made, specifically on the content of an answer, and two comments refuting it, have been deleted with an admonishment not to "pollute answers with extended discussions". I don't see either how three comments qualifies as "extended", or how commenting specifically on the content of the answer is "side-tracked".

(Of course, since I can't see the comments any more, it's possible that many other comments were made and everything got off-track since I last visited, but... I doubt it.)

If there is a policy on this, can we have it here or in the FAQ?


The comments degraded into extended speculation ("You need extra code!" "That doesn't mean they can't!" "But they haven't!" "But they could!" "They wouldn't!" "Why!" etc.); perhaps a few comments too many have been deleted, but I agree with your original point and removed the point about how the 3D effect works from the answer.

  • Well... That's fair enough. (And fair to say I probably would have weighed in on the "But they could/'nt!" argument if I'd been about, and been fairly deleted for it, heh.) Still, if that meta discussion resulted in a policy, better to have it listed somewhere official-like. – Rawling Oct 7 '11 at 11:48

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .