I posted a question that got resolved in the comments rather than the answers section. I'm new here, so I was wondering why that might be?
1 Answer
I guess that people post comments, because they don't want to leave a full-fledged answer at that time. Maybe they fear that posting the comment itself as an answer will be received badly, because a proper answer should go into more detail, or they are not sure enough to post
As this sometimes leads to questions being left without any official answers (only short/partial answers posted as comments), we're generally hoping that people either post answers or refrain from posting comments that discourage other users from writing an answer: Comments are not for Answers. As comments can't be downvoted, comments also circumvent the natural anonymous quality control mechanism (votes), and wrong answers in comments start a discussion instead of the usual process where upvoted questions rise to the top.
There are thus several reasons why such comments have some unintended side-effects and moderators will often delete these comments. That said, some comments might be fine, for example if they contain links to additional resources and don't amount to an answer. In any case, anyone should feel free to flag such comments so that moderators become aware of them and/or remind the user that comments are not for answers.
I hope this makes it a bit clearer.
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I've noticed that certain users (moderators?) can convert answers into comments. Are there any tools for converting comments into answers? Should there be? Dec 23, 2021 at 0:14
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3@EiríkrÚtlendi That has been suggested repeatedly, but as of now it is not something moderators can do. And we can sort of understand the rationale: if someone doesn't feel their content is adequate, detailed or comprehensive enough to stand as answer, imposing that on them and nudging them so that their comment contribution comes under a higher level of scrutiny than they intended doesn't seem right. Dec 25, 2021 at 0:35