Every now and then, I find comments which I like. Were I on facebook, I would put a like. Here on SX, "like" is not an available feature. The closest I can think of is upvoting. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I have seen humorous comments with many upvotes, so I guess this is not too bad an idea. However, upvoting should be used to mark constructive / useful comments. Some comments I would "like" are decidedly not constructive nor useful. Is it advisable to upvote such comments or should I just leave them alone?
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16$\begingroup$ The rules of the site are greatly ignored by the community in many respects. So first I think you need to decide whether you want to follow the rules or follow the flock. Once this is decided, the answer is easy. $\endgroup$– Git GudCommented Sep 24, 2014 at 12:16
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4$\begingroup$ Since you are asking specifically comments (not answers/questions) I have added (comments) tag. If you want to make this information more visible, you can mention it also in the title. (For example: Upvoting comments as...) $\endgroup$– Martin SleziakCommented Sep 24, 2014 at 12:28
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6$\begingroup$ Put likes on them to your hearts content. Nobody's gonna stop you, and you never run out of comment votes. $\endgroup$– Jyrki LahtonenCommented Sep 24, 2014 at 18:49
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8$\begingroup$ @JyrkiLahtonen The limit is 30 comment votes per day, but few people ever reach it. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Sep 24, 2014 at 19:09
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4$\begingroup$ Really? I believe you, @CareBear, but this was news to me. And I think I vote comments very often :-) $\endgroup$– Jyrki LahtonenCommented Sep 24, 2014 at 19:10
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1$\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak: I went ahead and added it to the title, because I found the question without it confusing, and it seemed pretty obviously in line with the original author's intentions $\endgroup$– Ben MillwoodCommented Sep 27, 2014 at 17:51
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1 Answer
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Depends on context, as usual. The main thing to consider is that comment votes are used to determine which comments are shown on page load, i.e., are in the face of every visitor from the Internet who ever looks at the post.
On the main site, $5$ top voted comments are shown; on meta sites, $15$. So, if one particularly funny comment gets upvoted to the skies, no big deal. If there are several, and they are crowding out less funny, but more useful comments, there is a problem. Withholding upvotes, or flagging for a moderator to delete obsolete / chatty comments, is appropriate then. For more, see A guide to moderating comments.
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3$\begingroup$ Links to general advice on meta.stackexchange.com should be viewed mostly as "for another perspective" rather than "for more", since there is no reason to think that the guuidelines set by that community will be the same as the ones set by this community. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 27, 2014 at 19:01
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$\begingroup$ My understanding is that comments are supposed to be disposable, though. So if there's something important, I'd say it should probably be added to the answer. $\endgroup$– trlklyCommented Oct 2, 2014 at 11:57
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1$\begingroup$ @trlkly Many valuable comments are posted under questions rather than under answers. Also, in practice there is a difference between practice and theory. If SE batch-deleted all comments today, a good deal of information would be lost. $\endgroup$– user147263Commented Oct 2, 2014 at 12:01