0

There is currently a 5-minute grace period on edits on questions and answers where editing it does not cause a new revision in the history.

I'd appreciate a similar grace period on comments, perhaps 30 seconds or so. Call me clumsy but I'll very often notice a tiny slip or unclear wording I want to correct immediately after posting a comment, but even if an edit is done within 10 seconds it still incurs the penalty of having the pencil icon stuck next to it.

This doesn't seem like the best use of the pencil icon, because when a comment is that new it's probably been scarcely seen in its original form and the edit is not likely to lead to abuse that would cause things to be read out of context (no more so than deleting a comment, anyway). The pencil icon would be more meaningful if it was reserved for non-immediate changes.

Improve this question
10
  • 7
    How's the pencil icon a penalty?
    – yannis
    Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 1:57
  • @YannisRizos It feels like an advertisement that the commenter is sloppy.
    – Boann
    Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 2:05
  • 6
    Oh? I always told Stack Exchange, "Thanks for the free pencil!"
    – animuson StaffMod
    Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 2:05
  • 1
    @animuson I like to think that they're #3 pencils because I always wondered what those were like.
    – Double AA
    Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 2:23
  • 1
    Now the stupid pencil even says the number of times a comment has been edited in the tooltip. >_<
    – Boann
    Commented Aug 19, 2013 at 17:07
  • @Boann really? Let me test. edit editx2 editx3 I don't see the number...?
    – 54D
    Commented Mar 23, 2015 at 13:49
  • 1
    @ArceusMaster0493 It's there. "this comment was edited 4 times" it says.
    – Boann
    Commented Mar 23, 2015 at 14:23
  • @Boann Alright, maybe I gotta check my eyes... Can you please kindly point it out?
    – 54D
    Commented Mar 23, 2015 at 14:57
  • @ArceusMaster0493 i.sstatic.net/9phZ2.png
    – Boann
    Commented Mar 23, 2015 at 15:14
  • @Boann Ahhh. Thanks, I didn't know this feature before. :P
    – 54D
    Commented Mar 24, 2015 at 8:31

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
12

Comments tend to be read and responded to much more quickly than posts.

Also, they don't have a public revision history.

Combined, this makes the chance that someone will see and respond to a comment while it's being edited much more likely than for questions or answers.

The little pencil icon serves to reassure folks who find they've responded to a comment that no longer reads what they thought it did. And also give other readers some clue as to why the conversation they're reading looks so bizarre.

If nothing important was changed, it does no harm. There's no revision history to be polluted with trivial changes. If it really bugs you, post a new comment and then delete the old one... Assuming someone else didn't get one in while you were making corrections.

Improve this answer
0

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .