-10

In academia.SE the upvotes of the questions and answers have some points associated. However, there are no points associated with the comments on the questions or the answers.

Why am I asking this question?

  • Few answers just combine the ideas mentioned in the comments and those answers keep getting upvotes there by increasing the points of the user.
  • Though comments get many upvotes, no points are being awarded to the user.
  • This is demotivating for the new members of academia.SE site.

What could possibly be done? (any one of the following would do.)

  • Award at least 1 point for each upvote of a comment. This will keep the users entertained and motivated to give their best in answering the questions from corners of the world.
  • Award some point (nonzero) to the user with a comment with 5 upvotes.
  • Award a bronze or silver or gold reputation badge based on the number of upvotes on comments.
5
  • 3
    -1 and a reminder that voting on meta is different.
    – StrongBad
    Jul 18, 2017 at 19:37
  • @StrongBad I have asked a question related to academia.SE, not meta. Is this question not suitable here?
    – Coder
    Jul 18, 2017 at 19:40
  • 1
    It is very suitable and a well written and reasoned question. As the link I provided says On posts tagged feature-request, voting indicates agreement or disagreement with the proposed change rather than just the quality or usefulness of the post itself.
    – StrongBad
    Jul 18, 2017 at 19:44
  • @StrongBad Yes, thanks. This is my first question. I understand.
    – Coder
    Jul 18, 2017 at 19:55
  • 1
    This proposal runs counter to the entire StackExchange model. Further, you should move this to the Mother Meta, since the model will not be altered for just one site. You should peruse the Mother Meta site first however, and find that this suggestion won't get very far.
    – Jon Custer
    Jul 22, 2017 at 21:02

2 Answers 2

5

Comments are often abused. There's no agreement on how to use them and they often end up playing host to side discussions, critical commentary, or (more often than not) memes. On the moderating side, comments are treated as ephemeral... once a discussion topic is over, there's a good chance off-topic comments will get deleted.

To that extent, rewards for comments simply encourages what is often bad behavior. The system is designed to encourage good questions and answers. Everything else is just there to help that first part work as well as it can. As such, I don't think this suggestion is a good idea.

2
  • Although I see your point, I can think of a few heavy users with a strong record of useful comments, but very few full answers (for whatever reason). I think some intermediate solution could be beneficial.
    – Shake Baby
    Jul 19, 2017 at 2:44
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    @ShakeBaby - Rather than adapting the system to suit those few users, I would much rather encourage those few users to work within the existing system.
    – eykanal
    Jul 19, 2017 at 13:39
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Two points:

  1. This is demotivating for the new members of academia.SE site.

    I don't think so. A new user can't even comment on anything except for their own questions and answers. Commenting is a privilege that has to be earned (50 rep). You only need 1 rep to answer or ask and this emphasizes what this site is for: Useful answers for relevant questions.

  2. There are two badges for comments, namely

    • Commentator [Bronze]: Leave 10 comments
    • Pundit [Silver]: Leave 10 comments with score of 5 or more

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