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Yesterday I wanted to comment on a question on Stack Overflow, but I don't have 50 reputation points. The question is that I referred in my answer to another Stack Overflow question, and my response had showed as a comment.

It is correct?? I don't know if this is a bug.

This is the question: creating and querying a collection in another collection. mongodb node.js

And now my rep is 47.

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    Trivial answers are converted to comments. This is one way users with less than 50 rep can comment on questions.
    – Antony
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:10
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    To add to comment by @Antony - can does not mean should. Doing it may count to answer ban.
    – Mołot
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:11
  • Ahm, ok!! I thought that it was a mistake. And, how does stackoverflow that is a trivial answer??
    – jjmartinez
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:13
  • Yes, @AzizShaikh, there is a response in the other thread about my question, I didn't know before to make my question
    – jjmartinez
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:15
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    @jjmartinez Your answer is trivial if it contains (I believe) 30 characters or less, plus a link to another question. If you had sufficient reputation, you ought to have either posted a comment or if you think the question is a duplicate, flag it as one.
    – Duncan Jones
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:21
  • In the case where the whole answer is just a link to another Stack Overflow question (as it was here), the correct action was to flag as duplicate rather than answering or commenting with the link.
    – Wooble
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:45

1 Answer 1

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This is by design, which is considered by many people unfortunate. Low-rep user can't make a comment, but can post an answer, which very often ends with posting a comment as an answer. That 'answer' is then deleted or converted to comment, mostly through low-quality, first-posts or late-answers review queues.

So yes, this is correct, it's not a bug, and mostly it's a review/moderator action (there are some scripts handling most common cases, such as that). The problem is well known, but the answer from SE team is that comments are so not important, there will be no changes within the following 6-8 weeks.

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  • It's automatic.
    – Antony
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:17
  • Thank you @Antony, I've updated the answer. I see such answers in review queue, I thought there's at least one flag/action needed to trigger such behaviour.
    – Cjxcz Odjcayrwl
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:21
  • I'm very new in Stackowerflow, but I think that is most clear that people with more reputation can comment and response, and people with less rep, only can do a comment, but I understand that the answer is the way to get reputation
    – jjmartinez
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:28
  • @jjmartinez Check the list of privileges if you are confused about what you can do.
    – Duncan Jones
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:29
  • @jjmartinez people with low rep can answer and not comment, unless it's in their question or under their answer. To get rep you need to provide good answers, ask smart questions and suggest good edits (from most to least valuable)
    – Mołot
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:29
  • Yes, I know, the only thing that I didn't know is that automatically an answer could be a comment.
    – jjmartinez
    Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 13:32

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