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This post is currently at the top of the "hot" list. The thing is, the question is pretty naïve, and yet is useful to a lot of people.

Some commenters have started to have a "not-so-nice" feeling. Is it correct to call for moderator attention in those situations?

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  • 1
    There was already a moderator flag on the post. I've purged the comments; none of them added any clarity to the question.
    – user102937
    Feb 4 '13 at 16:57
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    As an aside, I don't think that the accepted answer was worth 51 upvotes, but whatever.
    – user102937
    Feb 4 '13 at 16:58
  • @RobertHarvey I think that this question got so much attention because foo = bar? true : false; is a common anti-pattern. For this reason, I think that the question is somewhat useful.
    – Simon Bergot
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:01
  • You sure you mean foo = bar? You sure you don't mean foo == bar?
    – Cole Tobin
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:04
  • @ColeJohnson I meant foo = ((bar == 1) ? true: false)
    – Simon Bergot
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:08
  • @Simon I don't think it got that much attention because it's an anti-pattern.. It's far and above the most-viewed question in the last 24 hours i.imgur.com/PZkzFDu.png. Possibly because it was also the most active question before all the comments were purged. I'm with Robert.. I'd love to know why it got so much attention and high conversion rate.
    – Mike B
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:18
  • I have also (sadly) noticed that some "beginners" questions do get some "not-so-nice" comments. I think that it's because some people use such comments to announce "I'm better than he/she", and, also sadly, if one start there tends to attract other people of that kind. The whole idea of SO is that you ask a question because you don't know the answer, simple as that. Quality of a question is not the "level".
    – 244an
    Feb 27 '13 at 19:17
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You just did. (Kidding).

I'm looking into it now, will have a more detailed answer shortly. But, yes. You should.

You can do that through flagging. Click 'Flag' -> 'other', and then a reason why you're flagging the question.

You can also flag comments individually.

Comments on questions should really fall into one of two categories:

  • I need more information to help solve your problem
  • I have information that is useful to your immediate problem, but is not an answer. Like, 'Hey, did you try fooing the bar?'

Comments left that don't fall into one of those two categories risk being purged at any time.

Try not to get into flame wars in comments. Much like arguing on the internet, no one learns anything, and everyone comes out angrier than they went in.

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  • Already done. Noticed that you killed a lot of flags during the Super Bowl. Nice multitasking. ;)
    – user102937
    Feb 4 '13 at 16:59
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    Executive Summary: Entire game hinged on one play with a possible foul not called by an umpire. Typical of football.
    – user102937
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:03
  • /startrant I'm just saying, but that was blatant holding in the end zone. He pushed off because he was getting a bear hug from king kong. How the refs didn't catch that, I don't know /endrant. Please don't reply, but I want to just put that somewhere before I yell it at a teacher and get suspended (I'm the lone 49'ers fan at my school.
    – Azulflame
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:06
  • @RobertHarvey I kid. I saw it. But yea, I cleaned out the moderator queue while watching. And by the way? Should have called that Holding penalty.
    – George Stocker
    Feb 4 '13 at 17:11
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In these situations, the proper action to take would be to flag the offensive comments, marked as "other" and describe why you need these to be removed.

SO is supposed to have a more professional demeanor (for the most part) than other Q&A sites, and has a lower tolerance than most for less-than-professional criticism. Whenever you come across these type of comments, just drop a flag and carry on.

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