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What are the pros and cons of answering questions in question comments?

If I answer a question in comments accidentally, I mean while clarifying question, should I post my comment as an answer?

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    Per note in my answer please describe what problem, situation etc. you're facing that is making you unsure.
    – djechlin
    May 10, 2013 at 23:54
  • It's good that you thought about how to make this generally applicable, but also please supply the question in hand so we can tell what's appropriate to do in that case.
    – djechlin
    May 11, 2013 at 0:04
  • I was talking about a general question, let's say I know the answer, but is a simple answer which can be correctly formatted in comments, should I post answer? I see people answering in comments several times.
    – sites
    May 11, 2013 at 0:06

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Wait what? Don't. Answer in answers. See put slightly more sarcastically: Comment UI not friendly enough

Now I think you're more getting at the issue I'm trying to cover in this question, which is still under discussion: When is it appropriate to instruct a user on precise debugging steps to solve a problem?

If you're helping the user research a question and you don't really know what's going on, post a comment. If you have a step to take that you reasonably expect will get the user over the problem, post as an answer.

Side-note: Even on meta it's better to have a "problem to solve." I thought this was easy to answer and have a reasonable guess as to what spurred this problem so I answered, but you really ought to explain what situation prompted you to become unsure of this.

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