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When I review 'Low Quality Posts' or 'First posts' I frequently see questions that have pretty much the same comment from reviewers under it. And I mean - frequently.

Here's just a random example: enter image description here

Do other reviewers just not check to see if someone has already posted a similar comment? Can others just not see the view the same way I do (i.e. I can see when I'm reviewing something what all the comments are)? Or are other reviewers just trying to re-inforce what's already been said?

I just feel that this approach seems rather aggressive and off-putting to someone who may be learning our system. I'm all for giving encouraging help, but commenting multiple times with the same directive would turn me off, if I were a new user.

Thoughts about why this is happening?

p.s. This really is not a one-time occurence. I would not open up a discussion on a fluke. I see these duplicate comments constantly, though it may be from a sub-set of users - I don't know.

2 Answers 2

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Yes that definitely strikes an agressive note for new users; I'm sure the commenters have the best intentions but it seems over the top.

Feel free to flag these duplicate comments (or the post they're attached to) and they'll get removed.

Sometimes a moderator might leave a duplicate(ish) comment on a post before it's deleted, as mod comments will still show up in the user's inbox even after the deletion (not everyone's will). Perhaps we should be deleting the original non-mod comment in that case.

As to why...difficult one really. It might be something to do with the comment collapsing - users reviewing post might simply not be expanding the comment trail before adding their identical comment, and not realise what they're doing.

The process can also be facilitated by browser plugins like AutoReviewComments, which makes adding boilerplate comments very easy. That might explain why the comments are all very similar; different versions of the browser extension/customised messages.

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  • I can go and delete my comment (first in queue), but what does it change? This issue is popular under many posts.
    – Mołot
    Jun 20, 2013 at 10:33
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    @Mołot Well yes, and that's exactly the problem that's being raised. There's no need to pile identical comments onto posts, especially ones that could be taken in a negative way by the OP. If we want this site to thrive we need to encourage new users, not give them a reason to feel miffed and leave after their very first post. We need to make sure that only one auto-comment of the same type is against any one post, that's all. Since yours is the first comment in this particular case it doesn't need to be removed; the others do though
    – Clive Mod
    Jun 20, 2013 at 11:47
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    The other day you asked what was left for you to flag now that you've hit the close-vote threshold...this is one of those things
    – Clive Mod
    Jun 20, 2013 at 11:51
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    @Clive - well that was not my exact question back then, but you're kinda right, repeated comments should be flagged. I flagged these, and I'll keep an eye in the future.
    – Mołot
    Jun 20, 2013 at 12:12
  • Muchas Gracias :)
    – Clive Mod
    Jun 20, 2013 at 12:14
  • Thanks, I hadn't thought about my recourse of flagging a comments, so now I know...
    – Boriana Ditcheva
    Jun 20, 2013 at 21:34
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I have seen the same thing happen when I review on SO, so I don't think this is limited to just here.

If you are using the Review links, people should be using the auto-comments that get created.

If a reason exists, then people should be using the No Comment needed option, as leaving the same comment over-and-over again is just piling on. You could potentially upvote the existing, comment too. As a mod, that tell me that multiple people have already reviewed this decision.

Some people will flag posts outside the review system. When this happens, people will either write their own comments or use one of the Greasemonkey or Chrome extensions for auto comments (I use AutoReviewComments). Even then, people should just upvote an existing comment instead of adding variants of the same comment.

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  • Thanks, @MPD. I actually had never used auto comments, so this helps explain some of the reasons... +1
    – Boriana Ditcheva
    Jun 20, 2013 at 21:34
  • This is what I do on Stack Overflow: When I see there is already a comment left from a review, I don't leave the same comment. If I think the existing comment doesn't explain why the post should not exist, I add my comment.
    – apaderno Mod
    Apr 3, 2018 at 11:06

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