Are all the "+1" comments really necessary?

Question

Am I the only one that finds all the "+1" comments annoying?

An example comment might look something like "+1 nice answer".

These sorts of comments, without any kind of explanation or exposition, but a mindless "yeah me too!", don't add to the answer; they just add noise to the discussion. The whole purpose of up-voting an answer is to indicate that the answer is useful or correct, so if all you have to say is "me too", then doesn't an upvote or downvote suffice for that?

It seems to me that if you've already upvoted, there's no need to follow up with a comment of "+1 blah blah blah" when the comment you're adding does not add something meaningful to the answer or the discussion of it.

I wish there was a way to down-vote these non-value added comments.

(ed: now you can! flag noise comments with the new comment flag reason of "noise" )

Answer 1

I like to give a reason for my upvotes often times to give more context. I like to point out what exactly I agree with or to strike up points in which the author of the question/answer may have not included.

If you don't like it, then don't read them.

Answer 2

I agree, I don't like them either. I'm actually ok with flagging meaningless comments like this, since

• there's no actual penalty to the user when a flagged comment is removed
• the flagging comment process is basically 100% automated and doesn't require any mod intervention

Incidentally, this is why we require 50 rep for comments, to stave off the mindless stuff until people get their training wheels.

edit: added "noise" as reason for comment flagging. Please use it on egregious non-value add comments that are noise and not signal.

Answer 3

A "-1 this answer opens a remote root exploit" or the like, seems reasonable: you've down-voted the answer because it's a bad answer, but also told the poster "that was me, and here's why". Otherwise the poster may be left scratching their head wondering why they got dinged. (I know I have.) And taking ownership of the down-vote gives some additional legitimacy to it in my mind.... a real user did this, not just some anonymous coward.

Answer 4

I sometimes put in "+1" comments but they always come with something that I feel is worth noting. That could be lots of things: a caveat, some comment of why this answer and not one of the others or whatever.

But if the answer is simply correct (or I just agree with it if its subjective in the context of answering the OP's question) then I won't bother.

Answer 5

I don't know how you feel about "-1" comments, but since I've gotten into the habit of asking a downvoter why he downvoted me, I've been trying to always give a reason for a downvote.