-1

I believe a moderator inappropriately deleted some of my comments. I have about 5K reputation there, and I am quite aware of the rules of Stack Exchange (SE) in general. My comments were absolutely polite, logical, and while it's true they might have been opinion-based, I made it clear myself that, just because they were based on an opinion, comments on SE where not the right place to discuss.

By deleting my comments, I think the moderator gave a biased look on the whole discussion (not to mention potentially putting me in a bad light with other users). Now, is there a way to retrieve the deleted comments should I wish to discuss this fact? In order to defend my point or anyway for whatever reason.

| improve this question | |
18

If you want to have a discussion about something, it belongs in chat, not in the comments section of a post. Comments are designed to be temporary and need to be reserved for very specific reasons including requesting clarification of the post or asking for greater detail.

From the comment privilege page:

When should I comment?

You should submit a comment if you want to:

  • Request clarification from the author;
  • Leave constructive criticism that guides the author in improving the post;
  • Add relevant but minor or transient information to a post (e.g. a link to a related question, or an alert to the author that the question has been updated).

When shouldn't I comment?

  • Secondary discussion or debating a controversial point; please use chat instead;

Starting a discussion of how you feel about the subject is inappropriate and a moderator is in their right to remove such content as it is noise. On top of this, these comments are often very distracting and potentially annoying to the OP of the post.

If you'd like the content of the comments, it's possible to get that for you as they're still accessible to moderators but I've seen the discussion you're talking about and agree with the comments' removal. Once this discussion is over, as far as I'm concerned, the entire chain can be removed... which they now are.

As I said at the start, save these sorts of conversations for chat and please don't use comments to discuss this.

| improve this answer | |
  • Thank you for your answer. I agree with what you say. However, I believe that sometimes it is perfectly normal that comments divert to opinion. As long as this is clearly specified and the discussion remains polite and does not become lengthy, I believe this is acceptable and the comments should be kept or, as you said, the whole chain should be removed in order to avoid eventual bias. – Tommy Aug 17 '18 at 3:00
  • 9
    The comments didn't "divert to opinion", Tommy. They were there from your very first comment. – Catija♦ Aug 17 '18 at 3:02
  • If you refer to the first one which was clearly a joke, true. But as I said, it was a joke and I see those all the time across different stack exchanges. Anyway, thanks again for your answer. – Tommy Aug 17 '18 at 3:03
13

Not without help from a moderator, no. Comments are temporary and you should assume they will go away.

If your comment was an answer, you should instead put the information in an answer so the community can vote on it. If it was a question or comment to improve the post, then it generally sticks around until acted on. If it was discussion or argument, it's subject to deletion at any time.

If you feel that a comment seeking to improve the post was deleted in error, you'll need to ask a moderator if you want a copy of the text. If it was anything else, you should let it go.

| improve this answer | |

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .