4

Try these steps...

  1. Do your best to make an informative and helpful comment to the OP;
  2. Then use Mjölnir on it so that it becomes a duplicate (like somebody is supposed to do when the situation calls for it)

The comment disappears! It's gone and cannot be retrieved. So the choices are to write the whole comment again or to forget it and move on.

Is it a bug? Surely not, but what's the rationale for deleting the person's comment?

Living example: https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/77770/uk-visitor-visa-refused-please-guid-me

6
  • 1
    Er...example? I can look at deleted comments as mod so I can check if it's an automated delete.
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:31
  • @AnkurBanerjee question updated with the latest occurrence, but it has happened previously also.
    – Gayot Fow
    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:33
  • 5
    When you comment with a link to the dupe question and then vote to dupe-close, that comment is treated the same way as the standard "possible dupe of ..." comment, which disappears after dupe-closure, even it not hammered but getting 5 close votes. Your way around that is to hammer first and then comment or to not include the dupe link in your comment, but I agree that this is sub-optimal behaviour. One might want to raise it on Meta SE.
    – mts
    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:34
  • 2
    @mts uncool, but please make it an answer. Very annoying
    – Gayot Fow
    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:35
  • @GayotFow Have you asked this question on Meta.SO?
    – RoflcoptrException
    Oct 18, 2016 at 15:43
  • @RoflcoptrException heavens no! Those self-absorbed creeps will only explain that things are the way they are because that's the way things are. And then you might attract the 'meta effect', so it's a losing proposition. But thanks for thinking of me and what alternatives are available :)
    – Gayot Fow
    Oct 18, 2016 at 16:01

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4

I have noticed a similar behavior. Apparently when you comment with a link to the dupe question and then vote to dupe-close, that comment is treated the same way as the standard "Possible duplicate of ..."-comment, which disappears after dupe-closure, regardless whether it got dupe-hammered or from getting 5 close votes. (You might also notice that when you place a comment with a link on a post where you can not hammer, and then vote to close as a dupe, the automated "possible duplicate of ..." comment does not appear.)

I agree that this is sub-optimal behavior as potentially a lot of information gets lost. You might want to raise it on Meta SO. I've also added the "bugs"-tag to your question.

Your way around that is to hammer first and then comment (which is counter-intuitive) or to not include the dupe link in your comment (which is worse style).

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  • Duly noted for the future. Cannot accept until the cooling off period has elapsed.
    – Gayot Fow
    Aug 31, 2016 at 11:40
  • 2
    Yep just checked, your comment did get deleted once you flagged it as dupe. As suggested, I'd recommend raising on Meta.SO.
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Aug 31, 2016 at 12:25
  • 1
    @AnkurBanerjee would you please restore the comment?
    – Gayot Fow
    Aug 31, 2016 at 22:31
  • 1
    @pnuts The way I understand it, Usually if it's behaviour that affects all SE sites then Meta StaxkExchange is the best place to raise it, if it's unique to single site in terms of a bug or feature request then it goes on the corresponding site's Meta.
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Oct 17, 2016 at 6:13
  • @pnuts Have you got a link to the advice or direction given earlier? Happy to be corrected. In general users are not expected to be familiar - you can raise it here and if it's determined that it'll be a better fit for Meta SE it gets migrated.
    – Ankur Banerjee
    Oct 17, 2016 at 6:19

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