This is what a suspended user see when trying to add a comment here on MSE:
Or, in words:
You must have 1 reputation to comment
Suspended users do have 1 reputation, kind of. Error message should be more clear e.g.
You are not allowed to perform this action while suspended
Or something like that, maybe be consistent with other messages. (someone who was suspended can come with examples)
To be clear, this only affects suspended users on Meta Stack Exchange; everywhere else, the comment privilege starts at 50 reputation.
Therefore, the obvious solution here is to raise the comment privilege to 5 reputation - enough to clear with a single upvote, but not enough to allow every passer-by to comment.
Folks should still be able to post questions and answers here with 1 rep, and of course comment on their own questions and answers with 1 rep, but allowing kibitzing on arbitrary discussions without even a hint of other positive participation is a decision that, IMHO, has outlived its usefulness. We've already encountered the occasional spammer posting comments here, which are problematic because on older posts they can remain undetected for lengthy periods of time... Not to mention the usual trolling and sockpuppet hilarity that has been a staple of meta since its inception.
In other words, this is a change that would have positive benefits apart from suspended users. Which I think is necessary; if you screw up badly enough to get yourself suspended here, I have very little sympathy for your experience here during the duration of your suspension; indeed, if you're trying to comment at all then that's a pretty good sign you're still failing to heed the guidance you were given and are probably beyond the help of carefully gold-plated UIs.
