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Possible Duplicate:
Why do some people answer in comments?

I've noticed more and more that people will post valuable information (intended to help solve the problem) as a comment instead of as an answer.

This drives me batty! But worse, it makes me question what should be a comment and what should be an answer. I tend to err on the side of posting an answer over a comment unless I'm doing something like asking for clarity.

What can we do to prevent this mis-organization of information? It seems that this has been an issue for several years now, and I wish oh wish there could be a solution. Do others just feel like this is an acceptable trend? Am I the only one who can't stand it? Why do SO users feel the need to do such a thing!

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    It's often because people are too lazy to flesh out a proper answer (or do in-depth research), but want to answer anyway because they feel it might help already. Seeing as it's their rep loss, I don't think that will ever become too widespread a phenomenon... But you do have a point: It leads to mis-organization of information
    – Pekka
    Feb 28, 2011 at 20:02
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    "Everyone" is an exaggeration.
    – jzd
    Feb 28, 2011 at 20:05
  • I think this is a very good example of why people answer in comments. I spent 10 minutes constructing a reply to this question, only to have it closed before I could post it. Now the post is gone (since there was no warning or anything) and time wasted...
    – ircmaxell
    Feb 28, 2011 at 20:09
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    @slifty, please don't delete the "Possible duplicate" blocks. If you do, how will we know if your edits made the question not-a-dupe-anymore?
    – Pops
    Feb 28, 2011 at 20:27
  • Sorry :( I thought the edit history would be enough for that; and thought my edits removed the duplicate info. I should probably just start a second question instead of trying to revive this one. Basically I think that the other question asks why -- this question is intended to help us discuss some solutions.
    – slifty
    Feb 28, 2011 at 20:31
  • Don't they both just get around the same issue? When you work out why, then you can also work out how to curb. Mutual.
    – random
    Mar 1, 2011 at 2:11
  • One is a prerequisite for the other, but they are fundamentally different questions. Saying "why do people starve?" isn't the same as knowing "how can we keep people from starving?" At any rate, I'll let this one die if you don't think this is a conversation worth having. I'm left unsatisfied from the 2 year old question as I believe the "why" is addressed, but not the "how can we fix this"
    – slifty
    Mar 1, 2011 at 2:22

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