Yesterday I wrote a long comment for an LQ question where I explained why it's not meant to be rude if someone tries to get more information.

The question was deleted immediately so I wrote a comment under another question of this user - buh I know that it's not intended to write comments cross-question but I thought that the new user felt offended by me.

Then this user copied my comment and posted it under all my negative received questions (and let a downvote there - which was already fixed by the serial voting system).

Sadly, he did not accept my offer to chat to clarify the point.

chat offer

I do feel offended by such an action which is clearly meant to hurt my citizen patrol skills.

My question:

How can I deal with this? Can I flag a comment as others and explain the current state or how can I get those comments off of my questions?

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    Flag their comments and move on. And in the future do not go after users posting unrelated comments in any random post of theirs. It's not your job to educate all the other users, and trying to do so like you did can be seen as patronizing. – yivi Apr 16 '19 at 7:01
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    Know that users can see their own deleted questions, and read the comments on it. Posting it under another question was not really called for. In general, to deal with such a user, modflag one of the comments he posted and explain what's going on. Then a mod can review everything, including the deleted post, and take appropriate action. – Erik A Apr 16 '19 at 7:01
  • @ErikA sadly I were to late to write the comment under the right question, it was already deleted as I wanted to push "Add Comment" – Hille Apr 16 '19 at 7:18
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    This is why we curate content, not people. – Gimby Apr 16 '19 at 7:42
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    This is power user creep, if you chase someone down and write comments on other things then they will retaliate in some form. i'm currently facing this where a particular user grammar/comment edits EVERY one of my questions/answers and even gave me a long diatribe about how he couldn't understand an answer accepted by someone else. it gets quite irritating. i'm sure he'll respond to this comment too. i just ignore him and flag all his comments – kkarakk Apr 16 '19 at 7:43
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    @kkarakk Editing (if their edits are actually appropriate), is a completely different animal. If the edits are improving your posts, more power for you and this other user, nothing to be annoyed about. If they are actually irrelevant or harmful, roll the edits back, and flag a post if the behaviour continues.The comments (the "long diatribe" you mention) just flag and ignore. – yivi Apr 16 '19 at 7:47
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    it just feels like someone is hovering over my shoulder telling me to capitalize my i's all the time when i'm on stackoverflow. kinda offputting – kkarakk Apr 16 '19 at 7:54
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    @kkarakk You could start using proper capitalization, since you are already aware of the problem. If you don't, you are inviting other users into editing your posts. – yivi Apr 16 '19 at 7:55
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    @kkarakk: think of Stack Overflow like Wikipedia, where each page has multiple editors. Those editors want posts to be as readable as possible, and their fixing large numbers of errors is a good thing. Broadly, it is not reasonable to regard it as an example of unwelcoming behaviour. (Unfortunately some writers are rather attached to their errors, and some even add them wilfully, which is galling to volunteer editors wanting to tidy up). – halfer Apr 16 '19 at 11:04
  • I thought that the new user felt offended by me. I find that comments aren't very effective in either correcting a misunderstanding of something your said or getting someone to agree with your position once they're already angry. – BSMP Apr 18 '19 at 5:17

The correct action here is to raise a custom flag on either one of your posts or one of theirs and explain the situation. I wouldn't recommend raising a custom flag on the comments themselves primarily because the UI for comment flags isn't as fully fledged as it is for posts.

You're welcome to leave a comment/invitation to chat to attempt to resolve it amicably without involving moderators. But if it's clear they don't want to listen, or it devolves into an argument, simply flag it for moderators to investigate.

I've had a look into this particular situation, and have had a word with the offender - so there's no need to flag this particular case.

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