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How does the comment system and comments work?

I have not been able to figure out how to add comments to questions/answers on stackoverflow.

For example, I wanted to comment on this answer to a question but there is no way to add a comment that I can see. I ended up adding another answer that corrects/clarifies the first answer. That doesn't seem like the best thing to do.

After adding the answer, I can see that there is an "add comment" link below my answer only. But nowhere else on any other question or answer do I get an "add comment" option.

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Stackoverlow works with a reputation system. You dont have enough reputation to comment according to the official faq.

Amass enough reputation points and Stack Overflow will allow you to go beyond simply asking and answering questions:

  • 15 Vote up
  • 15 Flag offensive
  • 50 Leave comments†

† you can always comment on your questions and answers, and any answers to questions you've asked, even with 1 rep.

Try to ask/answer more interesting questions so you could comment. :)

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  • 2
    Exception. You can leave comments on your own questions right from the get go: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/19756/… .
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Sep 23, 2009 at 22:12
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    I would ask more questions but mostly I search SO and find them already asked and answered.
    – progrmr
    Sep 24, 2009 at 4:24
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    @kk6yb You can also answer questions, if you're so inclined.
    – waiwai933
    Mar 24, 2010 at 1:35
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    It's silly that you can't comment if you don't have enough reputation; if you need to comment on an answer that isn't the -accepted- answer (but works for you) your only resort is to add -another- answer saying so! (I had this issue here: stackoverflow.com/questions/5926041/…)
    – Zodman
    Aug 23, 2012 at 6:21
  • i seem to be able to without too much reputation?
    – Rock Liu
    Dec 27, 2012 at 21:49
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    This makes little sense to me. Seems to me that you should be able to add comments without any need for reputation points. If a comment does not make sense / is un-related to the question or answer / is offensive, then it should be flag-able. There are many times when I just want to leave a comment on an answer and not create a new answer which is basically the comment.
    – GKrasnow
    Jan 25, 2013 at 0:33
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I think these kind of questions might be a classic example of why Joel wrote a blog post suggesting that you shouldn't disable menu items, you should just tell people why they can't click on an item if they do.

It might be a good idea to leave the add comment link and simply tell people why they can't add a comment.

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  • I agree with this.
    – aeonblaire
    Jul 8, 2011 at 8:53
  • I agree with this as well. I would vote up, but don't have the rep to do it here :) Notice that the vote up button is available, I clicked it and now know what is going on.
    – greenanvil
    Nov 20, 2011 at 18:18
  • I agree, this confused me totally. (on a side note: I don't have enough points to upvode, but for some reason, I can comment here. what gives?)
    – brightbyte
    Feb 29, 2012 at 10:00
  • Please do this. I've been intensively researching a topic on SO for the past two days. Today, I decided to find an answer to why I couldn't comment and I had to turn to Google (which brought me to this page). It would be much simpler for users if they were just told that they couldn't comment if they didn't have sufficient reputation points (the same way I was prevented from "voting up" this response since I don't have sufficient reputation points).
    – D. Woods
    Aug 29, 2012 at 16:44
  • Seems the community is split on this (Which I agree with) - meta.stackexchange.com/questions/157981/…
    – user66001
    Dec 8, 2012 at 15:01
  • Ditto on: "I agree with this as well. I would vote up, but don't have the rep to do it here :) Notice that the vote up button is available, I clicked it and now know what is going on."
    – Slashback
    Oct 23, 2013 at 17:33
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It might be a good idea to leave the add comment link and simply tell people why they cant add a comment

I want to vote up toby's answer, but of course I doin't have enough rep points

I actually came looking for this as somebody voted down an answer of mine that ideally would have been a comment, but I wasn't able to post as a comment.

arrrggghh.

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  • you can add comments to your own posts even with 1 rep
    – Jeff Atwood
    Mar 24, 2010 at 5:44
  • Agree. Very confusing for a brand new user. I just searched for 30' to find out why I can't comment like most other sites where I have an account. Very frustrating new user experience, not exactly welcoming.
    – ckib16
    Jan 20, 2013 at 17:52
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Personally I find it frustrating that I can post comments on SO (where I am both a questioner and an answerer) but not on SU ( where I tend mainly to ask). Particulalry annoying where your comment is borderline between an answer and a cooment.

Would it be possbile to somehow pool reputation between the sites for the purpose of comments.

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