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When I disagree with an answer I can down vote it stating my objection.

When I disagree with a comment the only way to express that is to reply to the comment. This has on two occasions nearly started a flame war resulting in all the comments being deleted. (I am most likely the guilty party ... but I digress )

Why not simply allow for the down voting of comments?

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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This has been requested many times on Meta Stack Overflow and always declined.

This is the canonical question.

As to your problem - perhaps you need to consider what you type in your comment reply to try to avoid starting a flame war.

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  • I tend to err on the side of Honesty, rather then worrying about down Votes or reply Flames. One of the great thing about the internet is that you can get Brutally honest Autonomous advice...I many people here, are too afraid of a down vote to state there Real Opinion.
    – Morons
    Jul 26, 2011 at 15:44
  • See .. programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/94969/…
    – Morons
    Jul 26, 2011 at 15:44
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    @Morons There's a difference between offering a real opinion and insulting somebody. "But I'm just being honest" is not a good excuse for being rude. You can be honest while still watching your language.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Jul 26, 2011 at 16:46
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    There's constructive criticism, and then there's "I was replying to his idiot comment..." @Morons
    – Shog9
    Jul 26, 2011 at 16:48
  • +1 for both prior commenters. It's always possible to comment politely. I'm sure your Mom could do it.
    – Scott C Wilson
    Jul 26, 2011 at 18:10
  • What do you mean "I'm sure your Mom could do it."? I should Flag that comment!
    – Morons
    Jul 26, 2011 at 20:04
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You are entitled to disagree, however this is not Reddit. It's not a threaded discussion. Comments are a quick and simple way to exchange improvements over the answer or question. Upvote comments you feel would improve the post the best. Flag ones that are offensive or unhelpful.

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  • And flag with care, I would say, since the moderators are volunteers who are no doubt busy people.
    – Scott C Wilson
    Jul 26, 2011 at 18:06
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    @Scott: That is true, however we [as moderators] are trying to keep the comment noise down to a minimum. Flags are easy to dismiss or delete efficiently.
    – Josh K
    Jul 26, 2011 at 18:11
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    @Scott Flag away! Even if we don't get to it right away, it's better that a bad comment will be dealt with eventually than not at all. Also, multiple (uh... 4? 6? I can't recall) community flags on a comment will automatically remove the comment without moderator involvement at all.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Jul 26, 2011 at 19:13
  • LOL wow - two moderators! OK, very interesting. I would have thought too many flags would be a nuisance but you have automated your way out of that problem - nice.
    – Scott C Wilson
    Jul 26, 2011 at 19:15
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    @Scott There are 4 moderators on this site and we don't get so many flags that it's ever overwhelming. Accurate flags that help us increase the overall quality of the site can only be a good thing.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Jul 26, 2011 at 19:33
  • @Scott: What Anna said. ;)
    – Josh K
    Jul 26, 2011 at 19:41

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