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Guidance is pretty important, and that's usually emphasized when we notice a new user's downvoted question without any comments.

Comments are also ephemeral necessary evils — they're both pretty useful and create a lot of problems at the same time.

This post serves as a comment template list. It's much more convenient not having to type the same canned comments over and over, especially if they're meant to be elaborate and contain a lot of cool links.

Even better news, is that there's this AutoReviewComments on StackApps, which is available as a Chrome extension, Firefox add-on or a Tampermonkey/Greasemonkey userscript, if you wanted a handy way to manage your canned comments.

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Personally, I’m not particularly fond of canned comments. When I see the same comment over and over again on an exchange, it starts to seem hackneyed and impersonal.

I appreciate the way you are trying to be helpful, and provide a potentially time-saving resource to the community. That said, when leaving a comment, there’s nothing wrong with conveying the same sentiment in a more personal tone with something that’s written from scratch instead of copied-and-pasted from a master list.

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  • Canned comments are good only because they're quick. I'd prefer leaving at least some feedback instead of none at all when voting to close etc. Don't worry, I don't think they'll flood the site. (BTW, on other sites, they're flaggable as obsolete)
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Apr 24, 2017 at 10:49
  • The canned comments are nice with the AutoReviewComments StackApp because it gives you a starting point to customize. it just puts the comment in the comment box, and even adds the "Welcome!" if it detects a new user. I agree that canned comments can backfire because it can make it seem like your vote to close (or whatever you're giving feedback about) wasn't carefully considered.
    – ColleenV Mod
    Commented Apr 24, 2017 at 11:52
  • Copied-pasted comments, when are seen and seen again, tend to be ignored. They are like that person who kept alerting about a not existing fire: At the end people ignored him when there was really a fire. (The Italian version was about alerting people about a wolf in the town, but I didn't know it would be understood in English.)
    – avpaderno
    Commented May 14, 2017 at 13:41
  • 1
    @kiamlaluno The boy who cried wolf is a fable in English too.
    – ColleenV Mod
    Commented May 21, 2017 at 19:20
-2

This is my proposed list of canned comments. Feel free to post a list of your own as another answer, or propose more additions in the comments.

Untagged

These won't have any special tags to them, so you'd be able to use them everywhere; under both questions and answers.

  • ### Formatting
    Please visit [the help center](https://ell.stackexchange.com/help/formatting) and [our formatting guide](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/996/) on how to format your future posts better.

Tagged [Q]

These will be tagged [Q] in AutoReviewComments, and will appear when you want to comment under questions.

  • ###[Q] Proofreading
    Unfortunately, your question is worded like a proofreading question. Proofreading is off-topic on ELL, and that would make this question eligible for closure. Please [limit your question to a specific area of concern](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/a/260/), or consider [Alternative websites for proofreading](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/263/).

  • ###[Q] The "grammar" tag
    Please don't use the [tag:grammar] tag on your future posts. It's an officially [deprecated tag](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/3332/). See also [A proposed solution to the "grammar" dilemma](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2706)

  • ###[Q] Details, please
    Your question seems to lack crucial context required for answering it. [To prevent wrong and incorrect answers, please include more details](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/439/) of where you've encountered this or attempt to use it. Otherwise, this question may get closed. See also [What should I do when I saw a phrase or sentence I don't understand?](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1084/)

  • ###[Q] Rash accept
    It would be nicer if you held back on accepting an answer for a while, not to discourage further good answers from being added to your question. See [Not so fast! When should I accept my answer?](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1307/)

Tagged [A]

These will be tagged [A] in AutoReviewComments, and will appear when you want to comment under answers. Shamelessly stolen from SOBotics

  • ###[A] Answers just to say Thanks!
    Please don't add _"thanks"_ as answers. They don't actually provide an answer to the question, and can be perceived as noise by its future visitors. Once you [earn](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/146472) enough [reputation](http://$SITEURL$/help/whats-reputation), you will gain privileges to [upvote answers](http://$SITEURL$/help/privileges/vote-up) you like. This way future visitors of the question will see a higher vote count on that answer, and the answerer will also be rewarded with reputation points. See [Why is voting important](http://$SITEURL$/help/why-vote).

  • ###[A] Link Only Answers
    A link to a solution is welcome, but please ensure your answer is useful without it: [add context around the link](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/8259) so your fellow users will have some idea what it is and why it’s there, then quote the most relevant part of the page you're linking to in case the target page is unavailable. [Answers that are little more than a link may be deleted.](//$SITEURL$/help/deleted-answers)

  • ###[A] NAAs by < 50 rep
    This does not provide an answer to the question. You can [search for similar questions](//$SITEURL$/search), or refer to the related and linked questions on the right-hand side of the page to find an answer. If you have a related but different question, [ask a new question](//$SITEURL$/questions/ask), and include a link to this one to help provide context. See: [Ask questions, get answers, no distractions](//$SITEURL$/tour)

  • ###[A] NAAs by > 50 rep
    This post doesn't look like an attempt to answer this question. Every post here is expected to be an explicit attempt to *answer* this question; if you have a critique or need a clarification of the question or another answer, you can [post a comment](//$SITEURL$/help/privileges/comment) (like this one) directly below it. Please remove this answer and create either a comment or a new question. See: [Ask questions, get answers, no distractions](//$SITEURL$/tour)

  • ###[A] 'Me too!'
    Please don't add _Me too!_ as answers. It doesn't actually provide an answer to the question and can be perceived as noise by its future visitors. If you have a different but related question then [ask](http://$SITEURL$/questions/ask) it (reference this one if it will help provide context). If you're interested in this specific question, you can [upvote](http://$SITEURL$/help/privileges/vote-up) it or leave a [comment](http://$SITEURL$/help/privileges/comment) once you have enough [reputation](http://$SITEURL$/help/whats-reputation).

  • ###[A] Question posted as answer
    This post isn't an actual attempt at answering the question. Please note [$SITENAME$ doesn't work like a discussion forum](http://$SITEURL$/about), it is a Q&A site where every post is either a question or an answer to a question. Posts can also have [comments](http://$SITEURL$/help/privileges/comment) — small sentences like this one — that can be used to critique or request clarification from an author. This should be either a comment or a [new question](http://$SITEURL$/questions/ask).

  • ###[A] Editing NAA in review
    Please don't edit those posts that aren't answers. Editing in review clears the current flag and stops the deletion process. You should "Recommend Deletion" instead, or Skip if you're not sure.

  • ###[A] Editing VLQ in review
    Please don't edit link-only answers when you cannot salvage them. As is, they aren't answers and should be deleted. Editing in review clears the current flag and stops the deletion process. You should "Recommend Deletion" instead, or Skip if you're not sure.

  • ###[A] Duplicated answer to multiple questions
    Please don't add [the same answer]([type here]) to multiple questions. Answer the best one and flag the rest as duplicates. See [Is it acceptable to add a duplicate answer to several questions?](http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/104227/347985)

Tagged [C]

These will be tagged [C] in AutoReviewComments, and will appear when you want to compose a close-as-off-topic reason message.

  • ###[C] Writing advice
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's writing advice. See [help center](https://ell.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic) to learn more.

  • ###[C] Typo
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's a typographical error. It's too localized to be helpful to future visitors.

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  • 1
    Etymology is not explicitly off-topic anymore, by the way. A good portion of the community felt that certain etymology questions and answers could be helpful to learners, so we should be considering those questions on their own merits and if they should be closed, it's for reasons other than they're about etymology.
    – ColleenV Mod
    Commented Apr 23, 2017 at 2:58
  • Colleen I don't remember the last time I saw, or voted to close an etymology question. I just thought about adding it because it's there in help center. I guess mods should remove or edit that, huh.
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Apr 23, 2017 at 7:29
  • The help has been updated - that's what I was trying to tell you. ell.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic It still suggests ELU, but it doesn't say that it's completely off-topic here.
    – ColleenV Mod
    Commented Apr 23, 2017 at 14:22
  • To the downvoter, can I know the reason for your disagreement? Do you disagree with how the comments are phrased?
    – M.A.R.
    Commented Apr 27, 2017 at 8:58

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