10

The autocomment when voting to close feature says:

Once the question is closed (even if it is not closed as a duplicate), these comments are deleted and the duplicate information is automatically edited into the question itself.

I'd suggest to check if a comment was edited, before deleting it this way. Sometimes I dislike the standard message and add additional information to it ... but unfortunately all I wrote gets deleted.

Improve this question
1

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

If you don't want the comment deleted, make sure it doesn't begin with "possible duplicate of"

Improve this answer
9
  • Great ... that's what I am looking for
    – tanascius
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 8:32
  • 2
    Just curious: are all comments that start with "possible duplicate of" auto-deleted, even those that have not been added by the system?
    – Arjan
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 15:52
  • Is this a case-sensitive check?
    – Jon Seigel
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 17:27
  • 3
    That violates the Principle of Least Astonishment. How about not deleting the comment if it has been edited at all? That should be easy to check for -- just use the same check that displays the pencil icon.
    – Ether
    Commented Apr 23, 2010 at 1:02
  • @Ether: yes, I'd go with this implementation, too. Right now I have to remember to change the beginning of a comment to make it persistent.
    – tanascius
    Commented Apr 27, 2010 at 6:57
  • I don't think "make sure it doesn't begin with "possible duplicate of"" is true anymore? It seems that any comment that holds the word "duplicate" anywhere in the comment, is boldly deleted? I added a comment that referred to a duplicate of an example given in the question (so: I was not claiming the question itself was a duplicate), and that was also deleted when the question was closed. (cc. @tanascius)
    – Arjan
    Commented Dec 9, 2012 at 22:13
  • Today, an edited auto-comment of mine was left in place after closure. So: seems things have been fixed, and that it doesn't even matter if the edited comment still starts with "possible duplicate of". Nice. (cc. @tanascius)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jan 13, 2013 at 21:37
  • @arjan not sure, but it would be trivial to code, since there is an edit counter on comments, so.. if editcounter > 0 then ...
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jan 14, 2013 at 17:24
  • Since the text of “possible duplicate of” comment has been change, does the code still check for hardcoded text?
    – Michael Freidgeim
    Commented Nov 22, 2020 at 9:37
0

...or, to avoid editing, simply make "Community" the owner of those comments? (Some would rather not have their name attached to such auto-comment, for some vote-privacy until the question is closed, and hence it's proven that others agree.)

Improve this answer
4
  • But the name is already attached, isn't it? So this is a different proposal
    – tanascius
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 7:54
  • @tanascius, you're right, I added to avoid editing to clarify my point.
    – Arjan
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 7:55
  • Ok, I see ... this would help in the case you descibe - but not in all cases; for instance when I just add some more explainations why I voted to close and maybe even another link or something valuable
    – tanascius
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 7:58
  • @tanascius, I thought it would also help in the other cases, assuming only the auto-generated comment would be deleted, which you wouldn't be able to edit if those were owned by Community. And hence, you'd be forced to write your own comment. Now, given Jeff's answer, I wonder if all comments that start with "possible duplicate of" are auto-deleted, even those that have not been added by the system.
    – Arjan
    Commented Apr 22, 2010 at 15:51

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