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What are comments?

Comments are temporary "Post-It" notes left on a question or answer. They can be upvoted (but not downvoted) and flagged, but do not generate reputation. There's no revision history, and when they are deleted they're gone for good.

Please note that you canalways comment on your own posts, and any part of your questions. However, commenting onother people's posts is a privilege gained fromearning reputation - if you haven't earned it yet, try to get comfortable writing answers first.

How do I comment?

Click the "add a comment" link under each post. Comments cannot be multi-line, so simply press enter to submit your comment.

Note that comments supporta small subset of Markdown, so you can do things like_italic_ and**bold** and[named hyperlinks](https://example.com)

What happens when I comment?

The following community members will be automatically notified of your comment:

• the owner of the post you're commenting on
• one additional user when your comment contains a @username¹ reply

¹ You can only @reply to users who have already left a comment, or edited the post. The first three non-whitespace characters in @username are used for name matching, starting from the most recent comment or edit. SeeHow do comment replies work?

When should I comment?

You should submit a comment if you want to:

• Requestclarification from the author;
• Leaveconstructive criticism that guides the author in improving the post;
• Add relevant butminor or transient information to a post (e.g. a link to a related question, or an alert to the author that the question has been updated).

Whenshouldn't I comment?

Comments are not recommended for any of the following:

• Suggesting corrections that don'tfundamentally change the meaning of the post; instead,make orsuggest an edit;

• Answering a question or providing an alternate solution to an existing answer; instead, post an actual answer (or edit to expand an existing one);

• Compliments which do not add new information ("+1, great answer!"); instead, upvote it andpay it forward;

• Criticisms which do not add anything constructive ("-1, see previous comments you scallywag!"); instead, downvote (and provide or upvote a better answer if appropriate);

• Secondary discussion or debating a controversial point; please usechat instead;

• Discussion of community behavior or site policies; please usemeta instead.

This privilege

Leave comments on other people's posts