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Someone has left a thoughtful answer to my question.
I have a bunch of clarifications, and for now I've left these as a set of long comments. Is this the appropriate way to do this, or should I have done something else (such as use chats or another question/answer)?
Alternatively, is it the case that I don't yet "get" what comments are supposed to do, and am writing too much?
Most of your comments simply agree with the code review suggestions. Instead of commenting, simply upvote and/or accept the answer if you think it is a good one.
Some of your comments indicate that you want to think more about your design because of the feedback you've had. Just do that. You don't need to write a comment at all in that situation. If you want to ask another question once you've redesigned your library then that may be a way forward for you, but for the moment it looks like you just need to digest the answers to your question and what they mean for the direction you're taking in your design.
A few comments suggest that you're still not sure about some specific part of the answer, in that case maybe you should write another question that only focuses on that and talk about the pros and cons of each option although you'd need to be careful not to end up with a question that just becomes opinion based. Often when you've listed the pros and cons you might find you don't even need a question because you know the answer already.
You'll note that everything I've suggested would lead to you not commenting at all on the answer in the way you have.
So what are comments for? To ask for clarification on something you don't understand, to suggest some minor improvement, or to add a link to another useful post.
And one final warning, do try not to change the question so that the answers no longer answer it. I.e. avoid turning your question into a chameleon question. Ask follow up questions in separate question posts instead if you need to.
Note: This answer is written to answer the question more generally, without much reference to the specifics of what the comments the asker made were. For a more context-sensitive answer, see Robert's answer
In general, if an answer requires a lot of clarification, that might be a symptom of it being unclear, and (by extension,) a not-very-useful answer. "Not-useful" is a downvote reason (hover your mouse over the downvote button and see for yourself). Of course- if the answer as a net-whole is useful to you, don't downvote it. Perhaps what you feel as a need to comment actually indicates an area for you to do further research on your own to understand what the answerer wrote. I don't know. (I say "in general"- but I see from your screenshot that the posts are on the codereview site, which I don't know if is a special case (I don't frequent that site)).
I think whether it's suitable to use comments for long clarifications can be a bit of a judgement call. If you're using them for the intended purpose of comments ("Request clarification from the author; Leave constructive criticism that guides the author in improving the post; [...]"), then it may still be okay as long as there isn't much back and forth going on. Once those clarifications / improvements have been to the answer, you should delete your comments and flag any reply comments the answerer made as being "no longer needed" where appropriate.
If there is a lot of back and forth, or you anticipate that there may be, don't use comments. Use chat. Comments are not meant for extended discussion; chat is. From the screenshot and from your profile page, I see that both you and the answerer have the privilege to access chat. So you could try inviting that user to a new chatroom. Be aware that- same as pretty much anywhere else on the internet- whether that other user wants to engage with you in discussion is up to them. Be respectful of them and don't pester them if they don't respond.
Comments are meant to be transient and short. If you feel like your comments help improve or clarify your question for other answerers in general, edit the question itself.
In most cases, edit it without making a separate "EDIT" section. Make sure you do not change the nature of the question itself, but simply clarify it. By editing the question, you can avoid the comment character limit and limited markdown functionalities.
In your case, perhaps add EDIT at the bottom of the question. Add your clarifications there. This method is used more rarely than simply editing without leaving the "EDIT" marks. But it used often enough, for example in these highly upvoted questions and answers:
You can have multiple EDIT sections, if needed. For example:
EDIT, March 26, 2023:
Some clarifications. ...
EDIT, March 27, 2023:
Some more clarifications. ...
