Correct way to get rid of old unnecessary comments

Question

What is the correct way to get rid of old unnecessary comments?

I often visit one of my old posts and see that the comments have become "unnecessary", I then want to get rid of those comments.

The problem

If I want to get rid of an old discussion where I’m the author on some of the comments, what is the correct way to flag the comments?

1. Delete all of my own comments and flag all other comments as "No longer needed".
2. Flag all comments (that are not mine) as "No longer needed" and wait to delete my own comments.

My thoughts

Approach number 1: By doing it this way, the discussion will not make sense if the reviewer decides to keep the flagged comments.

Approach number 2: By doing it this way, there’s a big chance that I will forget to go back and delete my own comments.

What do you think is the best way to do this?

Answer 1

I think the best way is to delete your own comments first because:

1. You can, and you are already reviewing the comments on that post
2. That makes the other comments obviously unnecessary and easy for moderators to delete when flagged to review them

Doing it the other way means moderators may spend more time trying to figure out whether they really are unnecessary.

Any time comments are being used for discussion rather than seeking post clarification I think they are on borrowed time.

Answer 2

I'd go with 1 - that's kind of the least workload involved.

Practically for me the 'ideal' workflow is

• If its your answer, or you have an answer, to try to work in pertinent information in there. If its not your posts, see if you can work in information from the OP's comments respecting the OP's intent. Comments are primarily intended for clarification after all. One often finds that its possible to distill down a fairly large comment thread to very little.

• Delete your own comments. This way you don't need to wait for a mod or the OP to review, then review again. Mods have visibility to deleted comments so we can review the fuller context of the comment thread.

• Flag comments no longer needed. Whether its one comment or everything - depends. I tend to read through and selectively delete anything that's obsolete. Some mods prefer you flag specifically what needs to go. Some tend to just purge, and undelete as needed.

Answer 3

I usually follow a different approach than the two listed ones: I keep my comments and flag the first comment of the discussion for mod intervention. This enables me to explain which comments are part of the discussion and explain why I deem them obsolete now.
The acting moderator, on the other hand, still has the full discussion, thus the context of each comment, and can then decide what to do. Maybe nuke all comments, preserve some important information from the discussion, move them to chat instead, etc.

I would also assume that this has the advantage of adding only one item to the mod-only review queue instead of multiple ones. But that alone isn't a strong argument against option 1 or 2, though.