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I just wrote a short answer to this question. It was automatically converted to a comment because it was 'trivial'. I don't really agree with this, but ok.

However, the answer linked to a URL, and this broke the markdown when the comment conversion took place, since URL linking using numbered references isn't supported in comments. Not great, but ok...

I tried to fix the comment, editing it to use comment link syntax, but apparently that's not possible. Weirdly, I see my edited text in the answer box for that page, even though it's no longer an answer, and even though my edited text is not reflected in the rendered comment.

Seems like state propagation between answers and auto-converted comments is a little broken. If it's now a comment, shouldn't my answer box be blank? And shouldn't I be able to edit the comment? And if you're going to convert my text to a comment, shouldn't the link syntax be fixed as part of the process?

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  • Norepro--had a similar issue with markdown links today, managed to fix with no issues. O_o Mar 27, 2012 at 17:28
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    So, you're not trying to edit the comment using the edit answer box, right?
    – Arjan
    Mar 27, 2012 at 17:30
  • Also, there is a pencil icon next to that comment (its hover saying: edited 2 times). Can I assume a moderator meanwhile fixed it?
    – Arjan
    Mar 27, 2012 at 17:42
  • @Arjan - Correct, I tried to edit the comment directly, not from the answer box. But I did notice the answer box had subsequently changed to show the new, edited text. Not the comment though... Mar 27, 2012 at 17:43
  • @Arjan - Yes, looks like someone has fixed it. Although I suppose it could be a caching effect, and in fact I did fix it myself, but couldn't see that? I am suspicious now given the no-repro comment above. Mar 27, 2012 at 17:44
  • (Just as an aside: moderators can edit after 5 minutes too, and that also shows the pencil icon.)
    – Arjan
    Mar 27, 2012 at 17:46

1 Answer 1

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I wasn't able to reproduce the inability to edit a freshly converted answer -> comment, but I was able to reproduce the answer editor still having the original text. This is due to a saved draft not being cleared.

As for fixing the link during comment conversion, that's more difficult and probably not worth the development effort.

We'll get a fix for the stale draft pushed out, but unless someone can reproduce the editing issue, I'll have to mark this as .

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  • That's fair enough. Thanks for looking into this. Mar 29, 2012 at 19:44
  • My pleasure. Heh, I get bitten by the trivial answer conversion on metas fairly often, so it might get a "tune-up", especially when linking from one meta to another meta. Mar 29, 2012 at 20:03

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