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I just created an SO account to offer some feedback to this answer to this question. Although I can apparently post a whole answer, or even edit others' answers (okay, it's moderated, but still), I can't post feedback to the one answer on that page I wanted to.

I don't have anything to add further to the other answers already posted, but I wanted to post a likely explanation as to why the poster of the linked answer didn't get a flush. (The calls to flush and close lack parens, so all you get is a reference to the function, not an invocation of it.)

The tips popup for the answers makes it clear that answers should answer the OP, not address other answers. I don't want to edit the answer at hand (even if it would be accepted), because it's not my post. Can I do anything, or should I wait until I've built up enough reputation?

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Just wait till you get 50 rep. In the meantime avoid those posts and answer something that is stand-alone. –  Mysticial Nov 16 '12 at 18:37
It's unfortunate, but the rep requirement for commenting is what prevents SO from getting flooded with spam. As such, there's no way around it. You'll earn 50 rep in no time if you answer a couple of questions. –  Dennis Nov 16 '12 at 18:43
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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I do agree with the OP. There shouldn't be a barrier to posting comments.

It's easy to say "well just answer some questions and get 50 rep" but when you're faced with a question that you need to ask for clarification about, or if you want to post a helpful but not complete-answer comment, you can't just poof 50 rep into existence on demand.

You have to find multiple questions you're capable of answering, and hope you get enough up-votes from them, and by that time, you might have forgot about the comment you wanted to make.

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So what do you suggest be done to keep spam comments off of the site? If there's no barrier then it would be easy enough to create spambots to post their links. At a bare, bare minimum there should be a rep requirement that's more than 1. –  Servy Nov 16 '12 at 19:19
@Servy captcha for low rep users can help –  Sam I am Nov 16 '12 at 19:20
In either case, this is a support question, not a feature-request. And if it were, it would be a duplicate. This isn't the appropriate place to have such a discussion. –  Servy Nov 16 '12 at 19:23
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If what you have to say could be useful, go ahead and post an answer. The community will up- or down- vote it, but give the community the opportunity to rate the answer.

There should be a barrier to posting comments. Each of SO's rep-driven privileges (not rights, mind you) exist to allow those whom the community trusts to interact with the community. Users who haven't earned that trust yet need to have patience, or move along.

If a new user needs clarification, they should ask a question. Yes, it's a lot harder to write a good question than a comment, but a good question will earn rep.

If a comment was forgettable enough to the user, perhaps the SO community doesn't need to read it.

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