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  • While I respect your views, I have to disagree on almost all points of your answer. First, it isn't necessarily about the rude/abusive flag; I'm simply suggesting that all comment flags can be incorporated into a single queue for non moderators. Second, of course the reviewers should be held to the same code of standards; that is why in a discussion with other physics.SE users about this topic 15k users were suggested as appropriate. Finally, there is a whole physics meta discussion about answers in comments! I've seen them a lot, and it's technically against the policy.
    – auden
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 12:06
  • @heather : Yes, I took part in the meta discussion on answers-in-comments. Of course it is contrary to policy. The issue is : What harm is it actually doing? Asking the developers to implement a solution to something which is not actually a problem is a waste of their time.
    – sammy gerbil
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 12:24
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    Please trust me when I say I have seen wrong answers that seemed to have confused the OP. I don't want to give the examples because I don't want to name names. And definitely, wrong answers in comments can cause harm, because there is no established system like there is for answers! As for right answers in comments, while those may not cause as much harm, it is still better to have them in answers: it makes the site more orderly, and easier for others looking from google.
    – auden
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 12:26
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    @heather Even on Stack Overflow (which I'll take a guess has the largest amount of comment flags normally raised) it's not really a drain on moderators to handle them (in fact - they're normally the easiest). They are also a sign that "something else" may be going on which may actually require moderator intervention in some way such as clearing up other comments that haven't been flagged or warning a user about abusive behaviour. Bearing in mind that only moderators can see deleted comments and it's been assumed given the content of some of them that'd always be the case...
    – Jon Clements
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 13:17
  • 1
    .. then reviewers will be missing potentially important context. Also, comments can only currently be undeleted by mods, so they'd be no way for reviewers to identify potentially bad reviews and reverse the action. In fact, I can see this potentially open for abuse as comments aren't audited as much as posts, and if that were to happen, then in fact it'd actually end up more work for mods restoring comments and then having to deal with bad reviewers... I don't think there's a problem here that the current system can't handle, and certainly not one that needs an additional review queue.
    – Jon Clements
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 13:19
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    @heather : I agree that it is better to have answers - whether correct or incorrect - as official Answers which can be voted on. Incorrect comments could cause harm, but what evidence is there that they are actually causing harm? If the commentator has not posted an Answer, there is no reason for anyone to take the comment as anything more than a throwaway suggestion. If comments like Answers are to be judged on their correctness, then like Answers they should not be deleted simply because they are incorrect.
    – sammy gerbil
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 13:42
  • @sammygerbil, right, that's why I'm suggesting the queue would put them into answer form to let the system take care of it via down or up votes! It is others who are suggesting comment-answers should be deleted.
    – auden
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 16:04
  • @heather : Ah, I see. Yes, that changes the situation if reviewers cannot delete comments and only have the option of translating comments into Answers. But there's nothing to prevent the flagger from posting the comment as his/her own answer and reaping the rep - or posting it as a Community Wiki if squeamish about plagiarism. The only advantage is having this process automated - not only for 15k+ reviewers but for everyone. I think the details of your proposal need to be clarified and debated back in Physics Meta.
    – sammy gerbil
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 16:23
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    The issue with that is that you're effectively putting words into a person's mouth. If they want to post it as an answer they can do so. There's been numerous requests before related to this (one of them allowing moderators to convert comments to answers instead of just answers to comments) but that's been an absolute no (both from staff, mods and users) along the same line as allowing moderators to assign/change the accepted answer. A review queue being able to convert a comment into an answer against a user's wishes that can then potentially attract downvotes is... terrifying... cc @heather
    – Jon Clements
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 16:30
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    @JonClements : You're over-doing the "terror" but I agree it's not right to over-ride the commentator's wishes. And if the commentator has the right to delete the Answer then it's all getting rather pointless.
    – sammy gerbil
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 16:42
  • @sammygerbil indeed... and at that point a potentially confused OP and a community that's wondering why on earth the OP posted what they did as an answer, the potential diminishing of the OPs reputation (and I don't mean as in imaginary internet points) and if the answer gets deleted you've lost a potential comment that could be used as a base to build answers. Maybe I'm missing a point, but all I can see is confusion, hard feelings and information loss.
    – Jon Clements
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 17:20