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I didn't see an existing question for this, so here goes:

The questions listing currently displays:

  • Number of votes for the question
  • Number of answers and whether any were accepted
  • Number of views for the question

I think it would be useful to also show the number of comments on the question; if Alice asks a question and Bob leaves a comment (not an answer), Carol can only see "X views" in the questions list but has to look at the question in order to see if any comments are left. Carol might view the question (and perhaps leave a comment or answer) if she knew how many comments (if any) had been left on the question.

Could this feature be added, or are there good reasons why it can't/shouldn't?

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  • 2
    How would/could a comment count be useful though?
    – rlb.usa
    Jul 28, 2010 at 6:41
  • @rlb.usa You could see if it had changed...
    – Andrew
    Jul 28, 2010 at 7:25
  • What problem do you want to solve, which is not already solved by using @Carol combined with the recent activity list?
    – Ladybug Killer
    Jul 28, 2010 at 8:02
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    @Ladybug Carol doesn't know about any comments if she's not been involved in the question. If Alice asks a question which when summarised doesn't give "enough" information, with a long string of comments between Bob and Alice (and perhaps Derek and Ethel), Carol only sees the summary and the views, not that the question has any activity.
    – Andrew
    Jul 28, 2010 at 8:38
  • i was about to ask the same thing. i drop by at stackoverflow and look at questions that have no answer. this is due to the fact, that i don't want to spend my whole day reading problems that might have been solved already. no answer PLUS no comments is usually where i start reading.
    – phoet
    Jun 18, 2013 at 1:37

2 Answers 2

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Personally I like this request and was about to ask the same thing. If I've visited a question and half an hour later I see that it still has 0 answers, it would be nice to know if I should visit it again to see if comments or questions have yielded any changes. Sometimes a request for clarification could lead to an answer I would post, if I hadn't thought (or bothered) to request the same clarification. Also, sometimes the OP adds clarifying comments to a question if they realize they left something out.

In any case, showing that there have been new comments on a question since I last visited would certainly be useful to me. Even if they only showed up while the question still has 0 answers.

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Comments are informal.

What matters really is the amount of answers. Comments are a "discussion" extension to the Q&A. I don't see why it would be useful to see that lot of people are discussing this particular question.

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