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Update: Changing this to be a feature request.

Request: Notifications of removed comments with included rationale.

Reasoning: Personally, pandering to people's sensibilities is silly from my perspective, but being a community driven site, we are at the will of the masses. Knowing what kinds of comments/etc. the masses approves of directly fosters continued community involvement.

Original

I'm fairly certain that I commented on this question. I am certain that I flagged it (and my flag was marked as helpful)... but when I check the question, it looks like my comment has been removed (unless of course, I backed out of the comment and just flagged... I was a wee bit sleepy at the time)?

How would I know if my comment was removed, or would I? If not, then could I get mod input on what happened.

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  • 1
    You don't get notified, but as far as I know moderators can see deleted comments so you can always ask one of them to be sure
    – Rachel
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:04
  • @Rachel yeah, mods can see deleted comments; we have to know where to look though, they don't appear inline like deleted answers
    – Ben Brocka
    Oct 30, 2012 at 14:05
  • Hm, how about you ask a separate feature request?
    – yannis
    Oct 30, 2012 at 16:27
  • In regards to your update, I'd rather get notified of deleted questions/answers first :)
    – Rachel
    Oct 31, 2012 at 11:55

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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Your comment was deleted after being flagged as offensive. Two things might have happened here:

  1. The comment received 6 offensive flags by regular users and was deleted automatically,
  2. The comment received n < 6 offensive flags, and a fellow moderator validated them.

Unfortunately what is logged is the username of the last regular user who flagged the comment (which could also be the only flag, if a moderator validated it). Comments are considered third class citizens, and comment flags are equally unimportant, for example moderators generally don't see who flagged comments, the only exception being that the last flagger is logged as the user who deleted the comment (which is more of a bug, really).

The comment was:

Does the world really need another bullshit catchphrase for a phenomena, which you've linked to, that already has a name?

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  • I see. Apparently we've got a number of really sensitive people... Thanks Yannis.
    – Steven Evers
    Oct 30, 2012 at 15:33
  • @SnOrfus Personally I don't find your comment offensive, but I'd probably delete it as well if I saw the flag (I don't think it was particularly useful, I'd categorize it as "too chatty"). I could quote it in my answer or in your question if you want, so the community knows what we're talking about (especially since it was flagged as offensive, and it wasn't really).
    – yannis
    Oct 30, 2012 at 15:35
  • You could certainly quote it. If, at the very least, for the community to see an example of something likely to be flagged and removed as offensive.
    – Steven Evers
    Oct 30, 2012 at 16:14
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As far as I know, there's no notification. However, if I get a notice of a large number of comments posted on a question or a flag against a comment, I'll also remove other associated/replying comments that don't add value so that the ones left make sense. There's no real penalty, as long as you aren't abusive of comments, where abusive means frequent use of comments to have extended discussions or contain rude or offensive remarks.

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  • Yea, I've seen (and appreciated) you doing that on a number of occasions. I don't think that would have been the case this time (it was on topic).
    – Steven Evers
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:05
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    @SnOrfus I looked through my recent mod actions and haven't done anything to that question. I'm not sure who did, but maybe they'll see this post and remember.
    – Thomas Owens Mod
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:20
  • Thanks Thomas .
    – Steven Evers
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:24
  • @ThomasOwens You won't find anything in recent mod actions, handling of comment flags isn't really recorded. That said, quicker way to check what happened to comments: mod link under the post -> show deleted comments. The flag history of the question shows there was at least one comment was flagged as offensive, and since no other comment was deleted (and the flag is no more), we can assume it's SnOrfus' comment.
    – yannis
    Oct 29, 2012 at 20:41
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We don't need notifications of comments:

There are really enough questions as it is whenever a post is closed or deleted. Questions and answers are at the core of Q&A, and the community is happy to address any concerns about posts that are closed or removed.

However, comments are regularly removed for a variety of reasons, and the bottom line is that it just doesn't matter why they were removed. They aren't that important.

Sending users notifications whenever a comment is removed would only serve to create needless noise on Meta, and this noise would get in the way of the valid, important questions about questions and answers. Everytime someone asked "Why was my comment about X removed", it just takes focus away from the more important issues.

In summary, I don't see the community, moderators, or Stack Exchange employees pushing for such a feature that would take away the focus of the questions and answers.

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