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Since chatty comment threads already get directed to chat why bother keeping the "too chatty" comment flag?

I don't ever recall its use being beneficial. I also don't like the fact that you can't actually determine if a comment is too chatty without visiting the post in question. The flag queue doesn't hold enough context to be able to determine if it really reaches the level that it needs moderator attention.

Do we need to bug moderators because someone added a "Thanks! This worked for me!" comment to an answer? I'd hate to think we were expected to eradicate all encouragement or kind words from a post. Kinda not good for the community.

The "more than 20 comments" flag is more effective in indicating something actually needs to be peeped.

Why bother? Down with the "too chatty" flag!

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  • 4
    Me, too! <15 chars>
    – Ghost User
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 20:53
  • Feels like grabbing them in both hands
    – random Mod
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 20:56
  • This is kind of priceless, all things considered.
    – casperOne Mod
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 20:57
  • 1
    Awesome, would read again.
    – user102937
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 20:59
  • All these happy comments and no upvotes? Sounds typical.
    – Ghost User
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:00
  • If somebody doesn't flag this comment as "too chatty" I'm going to poop myself.
    – user1228
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:01
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    If my flag gets declined, I'm going to poop myself
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:04
  • That's where I saw the Leprechaun. He tells me to burn things!
    – Pekka
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:24
  • 1
    @Pekka - which leprechaun? This one??
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:43
  • 1
    @Adam "... a crackhead on the wrong stuff..." hilarious!
    – Pekka
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:46
  • @Pekka that's it? That's your new screen name? I'm dissapointed.
    – casperOne Mod
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 22:28
  • @casperOne wait 30 days! The text is already finished. Still looking for a good picture.
    – Pekka
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 22:29

1 Answer 1

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I appreciate your concern, but I don't agree with your proposed solution.

Having “chatty” comments hurts because they impede the visibility of future, more useful comment. As a moderator on a smaller site, where I see one comment flag per day and not one per minute, here are some of my guidelines that apply here:

  • If it's likely to generate a lot of replies, only keep if it's firmly on-topic.
  • If it's a standalone joke or other by-the-way item, remove only when the number of comments approaches the limit after which not all comments are shown, to leave room for possible future more useful comments to be visible. It's more important to leave room on questions than on answers.

There was a time when the community (10kers) could pile onto comment flags and so moderators rarely had to intervene on them. Was this a problem? Could we not deliver moderators from having to deal with comment flags?

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  • 4
    Man, that seems like a lot of work for little benefit.
    – user1228
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:04
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    @Won't Another of my guidelines is “If someone took the trouble to flag it, and it's not obviously relevant (e.g. pointing out a mistake in a post), delete.”
    – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:08
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    At the very least it might be that this flag has more value for small sites than it does for SO
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 21:28

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