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Moderators and other well-meaning users often comment if they think a post can be improved. If the poster then takes the advice and makes the suggested edit, is it appropriate for the poster to then flag the helpful comment as obsolete? It seems that it should be, my question is more about etiquette than anything else.

2 Answers 2

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I would recommend not immediately flagging the comment as obsolete.

Edits can be reverted, or obliterated in successive edits. There might be answers to the question that refer to an earlier formulation. Or there might be a chain of comments that relate to each other, and deleting one will render the dialogue nonsensical.

Until the Q&A has "stabilized", you can't be sure that the comments have no value. My rule of thumb is that if the question hasn't had much activity for a week or so, it's safe to delete (or flag) obsolete comments.

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  • Ok, well I just flagged your comment to my food safety answer. Sorry. :) I tried to catch you in chat first, 'cause I wasn't sure.
    – Jolenealaska Mod
    Jun 22, 2014 at 14:58
  • Hmm, maybe I should have checked the newest meta questions before I checked the flag queue. I didn't give it as much thought as you did, and deleted your comment because I saw that Jolene had indeed incorporated the information from it into the question body.
    – rumtscho Mod
    Jun 22, 2014 at 15:03
  • @rumtscho See the new answer (2.5 years later).
    – Jolenealaska Mod
    Nov 28, 2016 at 10:43
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I posted this question 2 1/2 years ago. Since then I have gained a lot more experience on Stack Exchange and have of course become a moderator.

As a moderator, I appreciate obsolete flags in cases like this. Frankly, moderators just love to delete obsolete comments. Flags just help us find them.

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    Thanks for this updated answer. I like questions and answers to look "clean" so I frequently get the urge to flag comments that appear unnecessary to me. I have to be careful though, because the culture of commenting varies from site to site. When I'm sure a comment's obsolete, as outlined in this question, I hold back to keep from bothering the mods, who are already busy enough.This is helpful in terms of knowing how to proceed!
    – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
    Nov 27, 2016 at 23:45

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