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Since comment upvotes don't yield any reputation, I'm just wondering why comments can be upvoted but not downvoted. I see a lot of comments with flat out wrong information or unhelpful responses, and downvoting could add weight to whether those responses are visible by default, or go under the "view x more comments" expander.

I'm sure there's a rationale, just wondering what it is and why more people don't request this feature.

EDIT: I know there's a flag feature, but I'm more inclined to use that for offensive or off-topic comments. Am I wrong on that?

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    See: Should downvoting be allowed on comments?
    – slhck Mod
    Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 13:33
  • ah, interesting -- not sure why my searches didn't turn that up.
    – trpt4him
    Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 13:59
  • @trpt4him That one is on Meta Stackoverflow, which also serves as a meta for the whole SE network. It won't come up on a search of Meta Superuser.
    – Bob
    Commented Sep 13, 2013 at 16:49

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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There's actually some value in keeping wrong answers around, as long as they're visibly wrong.

But comments are already a bit of a distraction - keeping worthless or outright harmful ones tacked onto a post is a luxury.

So you have a few options:

  1. reply, noting the error (so the author can delete it or correct it).
  2. flag it, noting the error (so a moderator can delete it, or the system itself if enough folks flag)
  3. both 1 and 2

Note that up-votes counter flags to a certain degree (at least when it comes to automatic deletion). See also: How does comment voting and flagging work?

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