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I know the issue of converting link-only answers to comments has been brought up before, but this is specific to the new review queue.

The new queue makes it simple to delete link-only answers, and add a canned comment for the benefit of the answerer; but I really hate pushing the button to remove an answer — poor as it may be — that might actually help the OP.

Can we please add a convert-to-comment option in the delete modal?

Screenshot

Or even a convert to comment option at the same level as the delete button?

enter image description here

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  • 1
    Nice photoshop...
    – Luke_0
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:17
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    What should that option do? Comment conversion is a mod-only feature at the moment.
    – Mad Scientist
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:19
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    @MadScientist - umm, ok, then my request is to make this feauture not be moderator only.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:21

2 Answers 2

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People are generally nice. That makes the convert to comment feature a pretty dangerous one.

If a user has the alternative between deleting a post and converting it to a comment, I would strongly suspect that a large number of users would tend to convert instead of delete even for pretty crappy posts. It just feels nicer to keep it than to bluntly delete it. The migration feature suffers from a similar problem.

Making this feature more widely available would lead to more crappy posts converted to comments, leading to more noise on the site. It should only be used for posts that contain information that actually adds to the question, not for everthing that looks like a comment. Moderators don't always use it correctly, but with a limited number of mods there is a possibilty of educating them about it. I think that would be very problematic if that feature was available to the general public.

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    I think keeping a few superfluous comments is better than deleting potentially good content.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:29
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    @AdamRackis Keep in mind the poster can always post it as a comment themselves if they feel it is that valuable. (Or, for that matter, so could you as a reviewer.)
    – Servy
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:57
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    @Servy - you're right that reviewers can go in and manually add a new comment with the deleted link, but I think the /review tool should expedite common things like this as much as possible.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 18:23
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    @AdamRackis My point is it shouldn't be common. As this post argues, I feel that most comments really should be deleted. In those rarer instances in which it would be an essential comment, even though it's a bad answer, the poster can remedy that by re-posting the content as a comment. It shouldn't be the common case.
    – Servy
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 18:24
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    @Servy - I only took a brief look through the low-quality posts, and most of what I saw should have been converted (imo at least). Most were links to other StackExchange posts, or links to api documentation, etc. Good info for comments, just not appropriate answers.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 18:29
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Isn't "this is a comment" doing just that once it gets enough votes?

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  • Does it? If it does then foolish me.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:20
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    No, it's deleting it because it should have been a comment, rather than converting it to a comment, or so the "delete because" wording would indicate anyway.
    – Servy
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 17:21
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    It deletes the answer; it doesn't convert it to a comment. Even moderators are not supposed to always convert those "not an answer" answers to comments. If the user doesn't have the privilege of commenting everywhere, and the answer doesn't contain useful information, the answer is deleted.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Aug 17, 2012 at 21:36
  • Hm, I honestly believed it does just that, since I remember stumbling upon a post that I reviewed some time ago and seeing one of answers I voted on changed to comment.
    – Oleg V. Volkov
    Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 9:10
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    @OlegV.Volkov - a mod may have converted it. Otherwise I really wish a team member would come and clarify this.
    – Adam Rackis
    Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 18:31

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