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I commented on the answer in this question yesterday. There was a lot of discussion going on where one person's responses were all deleted (so it looked like multiple people responding to no one). I made a comment (very similar to the one I re-posted a few minutes ago) which was deleted.

I assumed, reading the half-discussion, that my comment agreed with whomever was deleted from the conversation. I suspect this is why my comment was deleted—but I also suspect this is not an appropriate reason for deletion.

Outside of simply reposting my comment, is there some sort of reporting or something like this I can go to that would discourage this kind of "moderation"?

Edit: I am clearly not asking "Where is my comment?" Not in the title or the body of the question did I ask this. I am not sure why those answering (and whoever marked this as a duplicate) are answering the question "Where is my comment?" That isn't what I asked.

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    Possible duplicate of What happened to my comment?
    – Jim G.
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 12:30
  • Just repost it, eventually they get tired of deleting it.
    – Kilisi
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 23:52

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Outside of simply reposting my comment, is there some sort of reporting or something like this I can go to that would discourage this kind of "moderation"?

It's going to be hard to "discourage" the removal of comments. That's because removal of comments is part of the system.

As you have read, comments are basically considered ephemeral, and might be deleted at any time. By design, they are supposed to be temporary. Personally, I delete my own comments after a few days.

That said, your question here voices your complaint. And I'm sure it's read by our moderators, and perhaps developers of Stack Exchange. I suspect that's the extent of the discouragement you can achieve.

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  • I have to thank you for answering the question, man. Thank you.
    – AmagicalFishy
    Commented Jan 19, 2019 at 16:51
  • @AmagicalFishy - you are quite welcome. Always happy if I can help.
    – Joe Strazzere
    Commented Jan 19, 2019 at 19:34
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Comments have been discussed many, many times on SE; take a moment to go look and you will see that this isn't new ground.

Just to address your comment on Richard's answer:

"Comments are for improving questions and answers" doesn't quite answer my question, especially insofar as pointing out flaws in an answer is improving the answer. Furthermore, there are often comment chains that amount to "I believe this answer is actually incorrect or doesn't best suite the purposes of the question" (such as this one :D).

Actually, an answer is an answer. A comment is transient and may be used to suggest changes to an answer. Note that the answerer may choose to ignore it; it's their answer, after all. In the latter case, you can write your own answer, or you can downvote theirs. Or both, the choice is yours!

If a comment has been removed, it's almost certainly been flagged by another user, and a moderator has reviewed and accepted the flag. Comment chains may be removed if they go on too long, and are then moved to chat. Alternatively, the comments simply add no value and may simply be deleted.

In the end, Stack Exchange is a Q&A site, not a discussion forum. Don't expect comments to remain. If you wish to keep your content, then either edit it into the existing answer or better yet, write your own answer.

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  • I take our option to flag an answer with "not an answer" as evidence against what I think you're saying with "an answer is an answer." The implication seems to be: Regardless of whether or not the proposed answer addresses a question, it's an answer. Is this what you meant? ("An answer is an answer" is not very helpful. :P)
    – AmagicalFishy
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 14:31
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Comments are for improving questions and answers, not for debating them, not for calling out the people posting and not for being rude.

Chances are that your comments were flagged by multiple members, which triggers automatic deletion.

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    "Comments are for improving questions and answers" doesn't quite answer my question, especially insofar as pointing out flaws in an answer is improving the answer. Furthermore, there are often comment chains that amount to "I believe this answer is actually incorrect or doesn't best suite the purposes of the question" (such as this one :D). I feel as if your answer is a bit... disingenuous.
    – AmagicalFishy
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 2:45
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    @AmagicalFishy obvious trolling will also get your comments deleted
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 12:49
  • Thanks. This would be useful information if I asked "What types of things warrant deletion of comments?" I wish obvious trolling got answers deleted, too.
    – AmagicalFishy
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 14:34
  • @AmagicalFishy they do, but you need to have a rep high enough to see deleted answers
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 14:51
  • Ah. Yeah, it looks like having high rep. gives one a lot of liberties
    – AmagicalFishy
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 14:56
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    @AmagicalFishy no, but it does make you a target.
    – Old_Lamplighter
    Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 15:10

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