For a recent question seeking advice on nomenclature (see here), I gave my thoughts in a comment, but upon reflection perhaps I should have made this an answer so that people can vote it up or down (to essentially agree or disagree with this opinion). A comment only allows for up-votes (and so others can only comment if they disagree.
Is is appropriate to change my comment to an answer in this case? Thoughts on this?
This question is not up for debate as the questioner (ahem, me!) initially thought.
Initially I read the meta Q about etiquette for 'answer vs question' discussed here, which was highlighted on the FAQ. Besides some of the salty comments (which are not answers, but comments!), there seemed to still be some disagreement (and not very thoroughly cited or discussed answers).
There was a very useful explanation about why even modest answers should not be put in the comments (posted here in the Role Playing Games Meta):
You should not answer in comments. Not partial answers, not full answers. Not "leads on" an answer. Not "I would answer but I'm tired/just woke up/am drunk so I'll just say this..." Not answers that you think aren’t good enough to post as answers. Not little helpful tips, not helpful suggestions, not useful anecdotes. These will be deleted. Answer in answers.
And if your answer isn’t even good enough for you to want to put it in an answer post, just don’t post it at all then.
Answering in comments does the following things.
It bypasses question closes. They're closed for a reason. It provides an answer that can't be marked as an answer for future people's knowledge. It contributes to long comment debates as you can comment on an answer, but it's unclear what you're commenting on in a comment thread. It is "cheating" by locking your answer to the top. Answers with higher votes/accepted answers should go to the top to indicate their quality. Bypassing that by sticking your answer in a comment on the question is unacceptable. It bypasses all our quality control mechanisms: we can't downvote your "answer", edit it, or comment on it to request clarification or improvements. Answers also bump a question to the top so that people will scrutinize the answer; comments don't do this. It gets in the way of people who are busy using comments correctly to improve the question. The long and short of it is, every part of how the site functions, all of which have lengthy justification as being part of the process of SE - rep, answers, accepts, edits, votes, etc. - is obviated by using comments for answers. So every good goal of all that functionality is nullified by this practice.
Now, "but the hapless questioner could use that info!" In nearly all cases someone posts the same information in a (much more comprehensive) answer. Or take the time yourself to write a real answer. We don't like crappy questions or crappy answers, and we'd rather not have the Q or A than to have one that doesn't meet site quality (hence closes/deletes, part of the standard SE functionality). If you don't care enough to write a real answer: don't. The likelihood that you're the only person in the world/on the site that knows that bit of info is very small.
While users are welcome to steal the info in the comments to generate answers of their own, that will not slow the pace of dealing with the answers-in-comments via flagging and deletion.
Now, there was a very healthy debate in the comments to that answer, but generally I get their point.
While we want to encourage fully fleshed out answers with references and links, we also want to be sure we understand that partial answers are still useful information. We want this 'useful information' to follow the rules of SE so that answers are archivable and the community can 'vote' and comment on those answers.
Does this mean that I should refrain from the quick & dirty answer while I am checking in during my 2 minute break between meetings? Perhaps that is the difference between questions seeking hard answers vs advice/opinions?
I think so, yes! As far as I understood, the comments are supposed to add information on that specific answer/question within the same way of thinking. Such as adding a line of code to that answer, or refuting/corroborating the idea. I would open a new answer if I have a different approach to that question that was not mentioned before.
Here is a good example of comments and answers not being used properly. How do we deal with this when it happens?
