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It is known that commentators won't be modified when a post is edited. As a result, comments with the words "@user Code fixed. See updated post" or similar are very common, and sometimes they may add clutter to the post.

I therefore propose a feature: when a user edits his own post, an additional entry field is to appear under the post, similar to the "Tags" field when you ask a new question. The user can then choose commentator(s) to notify. After the edit is made the chosen commentator(s) will then receive a notification.

This will reduce the work needed to be done to notify a commentator of an edit, and will also reduce the number of obsolete comments, without the need of additional moderation work.

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I understand your issue, but I don't think that option is the solution.

For larger comment threads, like common on meta, the list of notifications can be very large. Also you don't want a mass-mail function built in like this. (I see more in an 'notify when changed' opt in on the post from the commentator instead of the other way around)

I think the current system works well. If you really need to notify one or a few commentators you can ping them. If not, just leave it. I never felt the urge to notify all commentators on my post.

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  • I think you misunderstand my proposal. I propose an additional entry field where the user can choose commentator(s) to notify, similar to choosing tags for a question - it isn't a mass-mail function, not all commentators are notified.
    – user12205
    Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:37
  • It surely can (and will be) used as that.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:38
  • Then what about limiting the number of commentators to be notified to one only?
    – user12205
    Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:39
  • "I updated my post, can you remove the downvote now", "and what about this edit", "is it now good".
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:40
  • @ace then this adds nothing to the existing system, beside a lot of work.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:40
  • I just thought it would reduce the number of obsolete comments.
    – user12205
    Commented Jan 6, 2015 at 22:42
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    @PatrickHofman If I understand correctly, you don't enter a message to send to commenters - you just pick which commenters receive a message. The message will be a stock standard system message the editor has no say over: "A post you commented on was edited," or something.
    – doppelgreener
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 0:45
  • @doppelgreener This is indeed what I was thinking. Thanks for helping me clarify it.
    – user12205
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 7:39
  • I understand, but comments can be community moderated, while this kind of 'edit' notifications are a lot harder to moderate (or there have to be very good thresholds, which makes this feature less usable I think).
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 7:50
  • I agree with Patrick Hofman: It should be the other way around. It's the answerer who needs to opt in, not the questioner to spam...
    – Fabby
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 8:30
  • @Fabby The user can "spam" anyway, by @ mentioning the earlier commentator in a new comment. This is a proposal where the commentator gets the same sort of notification, but without the additional comment being written
    – user12205
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 9:12
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    Indeed, but only one @ per comment. Not a mass-spam... ;-)
    – Fabby
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 9:20
  • @ace: That is why there is a threshold on the comments. Also, posts with a lot of comments are mod-flagged, so they will check what is going on.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jan 7, 2015 at 9:22

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