Is it OK to indicate that I downvoted in a comment?

Question

This is from my Flagging Summary:

[Me:] Where did my comment go? It was a factual explanation for the -1, and I did keep it strictly neutral in tone. – 7 hours ago

[Mod:] declined - Comments regarding upvotes/downvotes/acceptance rate are noise on the Stack Exchange network and are removed.

The comment in question:

-1 because this is a very inefficient and inappropriate way to simulate SpinWait(). The library offers much better solutions with 1 call. Like Sleep().

Now this is from a Q+A where the tone was getting a little nasty, so I don't mind the actual delete so much (though the very bad self-answer is still up).

But should I really take it from this (template?) response that the explanation of a downvote is noise and unwelcome?

Answer 1

-1 this is incorrect

is essentially noise. Your downvote should already indicate this; if your downvote indicates anything other than "something here is incorrect or unhelpful", you're doing it wrong.

-1 this code contained live bobcat, would not compile again

is better, but honestly the comment should simply explain what's incorrect in an answer, not focus on the voting. I don't know what your comment was, but that's the guideline I'd follow. Don't include the "-1" and people will focus on the correctness of the post (which is good) not the score of their post (which is only the means to an end).

Posts regarding voting and acceptance rate are very contentious and focus on the wrong problem. In this case it sounds like your comment shouldn't have been deleted, but if in the future you don't even reference voting I think you'd be much safer.

Answer 2

I think it highly depends on the comment:

Good:

• -1, that cannot work because of xyz
• -1, that's just a dirty hack/workaround and does not solve the actual issue of the OP

Bad:

• -1, this is bad/wrong
• -1, learn some english!
• -1, you have a funny nose

Answer 3

https://stackoverflow.com/privileges/comment describes the legitimate use cases for comments.

They are:

• Requesting clarification from the author;
• Leaving constructive criticism that guides the author in improving the post;
• Adding relevant but minor or transient information to a post (e.g. a link to a related question, or an alert to the author that the question has been updated).

That's it. Notice that discussions about voting are not in the list.

Explaining the reason you are downvoting is perfectly fine, but it's not necessary to indicate that you downvoted. It's about the post, not about the votes. Stating that you downvoted them is contentious, and invites discussions that you don't really want or need to engage in.

Answer 4

It may have been a general clean-up of many of the comments against that post, especially if - as you say - the conversation was going downhill.

I've had some tangible comments deleted as part of such a sweep before. Overall, it's better, and I don't expect a mod to pick through every single comment in a heated follow-up discussion to try and pick out the salient parts. Just clean it up.

Hopefully the person who received the -1 had time to read your explanation, if it was constructive. If it wasn't constructive, well... remember that you may have felt it was constructive, but a mod reviewing it (or community members flagging it) may have felt differently.

Personally, I still explain down-votes, but as others suggested I have been trying to be better about prefacing it with a -1. It doesn't really matter if I'm the one leaving the comment and I'm the one down-voting it; the meat is that here is a suggestion to improve your post.

I think I'm a little more reluctant to leave out a +1 on a comment I have for an answer I generally agree with but have a suggestion to make it a little bit better. Just so that they know I felt their answer was helpful even if I am not just saying "right on" but also providing some constructive criticism.

Answer 5

My view is similar, but slightly more strict, than that of @ThiefMaster's answer:

Good/acceptable downvote-comments

• -1: This approach cannot work because of XYZ.

• -1: This answer is too verbose and encyclopedic, it should be slimmed down.

• -1: It's not clear to me how this answer differs in essencefrom @SomeUser 's earlier answer.

Bad downvote-comments and why they're bad in italics

• -1: While on the subject, this does not provide an actual answer to OP's specific question.
         _{This would be a reason to flag, not downvote}
• -1, that's just a dirty hack/workaround and does not solve the actual issue of the OP
         _{Too acrimonious / antagonistic}
• -1, this is bad/wrong
         _{No useful info in this comment}
• -1, learn some English!
         _{Commenter should at least give specific examples of poor grammar, and better yet - edit and correct it.}
• -1, you have a funny nose
         _{Oh yeah? Well you have funny ears!}

Answer 6

Obviously I am missing part of the larger issue surrounding this specific case (name calling, ect) however the core of the question remains: Should comments that discuss voting be removed?

Short answer: No

Long(er) answer: NO _{with a butt!}
If the comment merley mentions that the vote was + or - BUT also gives a reasoning to why the vote was cast I don't see this as being any different that just posting the advice and leaving it at that... except for the fact that (in my personal experience) if the user felt strongly enough to -1 AND comment why, they are willing to +1 after you have taken their advice and updated your question. I have had a few cases where this landed me +++rep and a check!

Now, if the comment is useless -1 this is wrong then I can understand why it is deleted... that is akin to deleting Yo, what up brotha type comments. They do not offer any substance and are clutter. However even the tiniest bit of information here would turn that bad comment into a helpful one (like in the case of the OP's comment).

Anyways, that is my two cents.

_{Disclaimer: I expect a comment+reasoning for ALL downvotes to this answer! No acceptions!}