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As a long time reader but only a recent member, I have often found the arguments in comments to be helpful. They help to shape future answers and often the questions themselves and are useful to understand the rationale as to why a person's mind was changed or what it took to convince them an answer was correct. If a user deletes their comments, then you only see one side of the argument from then on which offers impartial information and may not be enough to convince future readers.

I understand when comments are moved to chat or deleted by a moderator for breaking rules; but when there isn't a good reason for the deletion, I believe you should still be able to read what was said.

Should there be a revision history for comments as well? Similar to Wikipedia's talk page or the revision history that already exists for questions and answers.

4

Basically, comments are second-class citizens within the Stack Exchange network. They serve only a single goal: to make question/answer better.

Comments also can be deleted with no notice — no, not only when they break rules, but also when they become obsolete, or considered too chatty. Or simply because there are too many adjacent comments that clutter the space and arguably add little to the post they reside under.

… you only see one side of the argument from then on which offers impartial information and may not be enough to convince future readers.

If you think that the Q/A post is not self-sustainable without its comments, edit the post to incorporate the relevant thoughts.

Revision history is available to the diamond Mods, and I think the SE developers need good reasons to change it globally: How to view comment revision history

Yet another consideration, tangentially relative: people often tend to post half-answers in comments. This post at Meta.RPG.SE contains a great insight.

P.S. -1 to your question because on Meta sites downvotes mean disagreement and do not impact the reputation: Meaning of downvotes in Meta vs Main sites?

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  • Thanks for the explanation of the meta vs main downvotes. I don't I agree with all the rational for deleting a comment but it does seem to be working as intended. If you think that the Q/A post is not self-sustainable without its comments, edit the post to incorporate the relevant thoughts. this is where I mostly disagree, if the questioning user deletes the discussion, they certainly won't accept edits trying to incorporate that discussion. Anyways, this does answer the question, thanks again. – user_42 Apr 27 '18 at 17:27
  • @user_42 fortunately the original writer of an answer does not retain full control over it. If you offer an edit it comes up in the queue for the community to approve or reject. – user9389 Apr 27 '18 at 17:33

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