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Under this answer:

https://english.stackexchange.com/a/357464/2105

are two comments:

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. If there are elements in moved comments and subsequent chat that belong in this answer, then such elements should be edited into this answer not left as ephemera.

and

ᴍᴏᴅᴇʀᴀᴛᴏʀ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: Comments cannot be moved to chat a second time. Please use this posting’s chatroom for discussion. Further comments here will be deleted.

Which seems to suggest that the chatroom is the place for posting any further comments.

Is that how this works?

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3 Answers 3

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Chat rooms are created when comment threads swerve off into a protracted discussion more fitting for our chat room format (so one is started).

But the creation of a chat room does not disable the use/need for comments as they were meant to be used. For example, comments involving factual errata or "it would be clearer if you said <this>" would never reach the original author if posted in the chat room. It would be awkward and ultimately self-defeating to mechanically enforce that ALL comments be forbidden after a chat room is created.

Comments are meant to ask for clarification or suggest improvement for the original post. If someone has a brief suggestion or clarification completely unrelated to the chat room format (i.e. they're not just replying to something said earlier or starting another conversation), then comments may be the best place to post it.

But I would suggest that all further conversation elicited by that post continue in the chat format and not be allowed in comments.

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6
  • 3
    It would be really nice if we could move further discussion comments into the same chat room, though.
    – Rory Alsop
    Nov 13, 2016 at 17:47
  • 4
    @RoryAlsop Yes, that would be ideal, but my inclination is to fix the comment UI to actually welcome and encourage this type of out-of-band commentary and discussion that would capture this type of enthusiastic discussion and sharing of anecdotes without interfering with the wiki-style Q&A that we ultimately would like to achieve. A post with "too many comments" really is a UI problem; not a Q&A problem.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Nov 13, 2016 at 18:53
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    @RobertCartaino - I think instead of chat being this separate page in a separate system, hidden and off to the side behind the scenes, I think if we want to encourage people to use it, there needs to be an option to embed it on the page somehow. Right now, comments moved to chat just go there to die, and people just continue "chatting" in the comment section. It's because the thing they're chatting about is on that page, the page with the questions and answers. Is there a way to bring the two systems on the same page without causing more confusion?
    – jmort253
    Nov 22, 2016 at 16:28
  • The difference is chat messages don't ping question askers and answerers, and they could be more easily hidden when there's no activity. I picture a UI that looks similar to Olark's embedded chat window.
    – jmort253
    Nov 22, 2016 at 16:30
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    It would be so, so good if there was a "comment" tab and a "chat" tab below each answer/question, for people to talk about it in a more direct manner...
    – T. Sar
    Nov 22, 2016 at 19:32
  • I think it's an interesting admission that things sent to chat will never reach the author. Typically they never reach anyone, because chat is garbage and no one reads chat, especially the author. The whole concept needs to be examined.
    – JamieB
    Oct 10, 2022 at 14:39
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I don't think it always works that way. It depends on what kind of comments you want to post. For example, if your comment is to discuss some issues raised in the comment, it should be posted in the chatroom.

However, if you still need to clarify some points with the poster and suggest some recommendations that can help improve the post, I don't see any reason why you can't post a comment below the post.

I believe the second message is to encourage users to post off-topic (for-discussion) comments in the chat room.

Comments are not for extended discussion.

Please use this posting’s chatroom for discussion.

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2
  • Why does it make sense to have two different places to comment, and not just one? Do people really make the calculus "my comment is discussion, so it belongs in the chat room?"
    – user102937
    Nov 13, 2016 at 16:08
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    @RobertHarvey To be honest with you, I have never posted any comment in the chatroom. The chatroom is for discussion and the comment box is for clarification and suggestion. I think there is a very clear line between them.
    – Rathony
    Nov 13, 2016 at 16:15
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Yes.

Comments are to gain clarity and to request updates. If there is enough discussion that that it becomes difficult to read the question and answers, a chat room is required.

Once it is there, that is the best location to add more comments if there is still clarity needed.

Remember, once the updates have been edited in, the comments are no longer needed anyway so having 20+ comments out the way is easier than having to remove them from the post.

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    There's not much system support for this. Comments can still be added to a post after a "move to chat room" is initiated. What is the use case for additional commenting below the post?
    – user102937
    Nov 13, 2016 at 15:47
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    Hmmm - somehow you misunderstood my post. I don't like having comments added after previous ones have been moved to chat. I don't have a use case for this.
    – Rory Alsop
    Nov 13, 2016 at 17:48
  • What I meant was, the system does not support your assertion. It still allows commenting below the post, even though you have moved comments to chat.
    – user102937
    Nov 15, 2016 at 2:40

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