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I sometimes come across comments that I have typed quickly or on a mobile device or simply without paying enough attention and they have spelling mistakes or typos. Since I can only edit my comments for the first 5mins after posting, I cannot correct such errors when I see them and they are extremely annoying and make me cringe every time I read my comment :).

I know I can delete my comments, but sometimes the information in the comment is actually relevant and I would like to keep it there.

So, why does the 5 minute limit exist? Would it be possible to remove or extend it?

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    jsut fiY yuo cna aslo delet yuor unstighly coments.
    – allquixotic
    Commented Dec 13, 2012 at 16:42
  • @allquixotic, I know, but what if the comment has a wonderful gem of incredibly insightful information that is absolutely essential for the question (as, of course, is very often the case with my comments :) )?
    – terdon
    Commented Dec 13, 2012 at 16:47
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    Relevant: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/459/…
    – Oliver Salzburg Mod
    Commented Dec 13, 2012 at 16:56
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    Even more relevant: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/33997/…
    – Oliver Salzburg Mod
    Commented Dec 13, 2012 at 16:56
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    Personally I think 5 minutes is a little low, and 10-15 minutes might be better. That being said, I think we do need a time limit regardless, and while I think the current one is a little short, I'd rather have a time limit than to allow unlimited comment edits.
    – Breakthrough
    Commented Dec 13, 2012 at 20:17

2 Answers 2

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The five minutes is just a gesture to keep a lot more people from going insane. Comments really are throwaway.

If you think anything insightful or relevant should be left anywhere it should be rolled into the post or created as a competing answer itself.

Don't spend your time working on comments. Spend that time on better questions and/or answers. Edits included.

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Another thing: Comments are posted and read chronologically, while questions and answers are not. Comments do not carry any revision information.

If you enabled editing at any point in time, this would allow people to completely change the meaning of a conversation much later on, without anyone noticing. That again would require others to peer-review these edits in the same way as regular posts, et cetera.

Too much overhead for just a comment.

I know I can delete my comments, but sometimes the information in the comment is actually relevant and I would like to keep it there.

If a comment contains really really really really important information and needs to be updated, work it into the post instead and then remove the comment itself.

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