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I've noticed a plethora of comments by certain folks here (including a person with 30000 reputation), and they amount to answers. Lots of times they are the first comment and the asker engages in some dialogue with the poster of the comment, and this is before and sometimes in lieu of getting an actual answer.

Here is an example of a recent comment that is one among dozens by the same person over a period of time. Would it be better for people to desist writing answers in the comment section and let other people write actual answers? I find myself confused by the procedures here when I see such things.

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    To commit the same sin here, a one-line answer is not worthy of a StackExchange answer, even if it answers the question. It is worthy of a StackExchange comment that anyone else can freely use to write a proper StackExchange answer. If there is nothing more to be said than one line, then the question is probably not a good StackExchange question to begin with.
    – choster
    Apr 21, 2016 at 3:19
  • This would be my first official participation here in Meta. Please be gentle with me (haha). @Alan, you may turn (essentially integrate) those comments into an answer. An example would be this answer of mine here: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/79730/… Cheers!
    – shin
    Apr 21, 2016 at 11:28
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    To me it seems that @FumbleFingers could just resist the urge to write a comment that amounts to an answer. His practice is counterintuitive to how answers work. It makes work for other people to turn his comments into proper answers and if I did so, for the benefit of the OP and to help the question, I would do so by copying and pasting and not link to the comment(s) by FF because he forebears to write his own answer. Let him edit my answer with a link to his own comments. I mean if you don't have time to write an answer, don't take a short cut and leave a comment.
    – Alan Carmack
    Apr 21, 2016 at 14:26
  • This issue has been extensively discussed and debated on ELU, too as in this question, Why are answers being posted in the comments on the question?. I personally don't think an answer should be put in a comment which runs a risk of being deleted. But, there is no rule and Stack Exchange seems to be democracy where people can do whatever they want in terms of answering questions unless rules are broken. I suggest you take your time and try to adjust yourself to the environment.
    – user24743
    Apr 21, 2016 at 15:12
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    @Rathony - The Stack Exchange is kind of like English, in a way. There may be rules (a.k.a. "grammar") but people still find ways to stretch those rules. Situations are often more shades-of-gray than black-or-white or hard-and-fast.
    – J.R. Mod
    Apr 21, 2016 at 17:24

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