I was looking at a question a bit earlier (Appropriate way to handle timezone for embedded/IoT devices to be more specific) and wanted to ask the OP a question to get better insight into their thought process but was locked out from commenting due to lack of reputation points. The question in this case was "Would having more precise time information actually be useful in this case?" to probe the asker into thinking if the hassle of finding workarounds was worth having that information in the first place.

I understand the need for such measures when commenting on answers to questions, but would it not make sense to allow anyone who is able to answer the question to ask questions to the OP to better answer the said question?

To answer the duplicate claim this question is different in asking specifically about comments on the question rather than in general, as to reduce the amount of spam as the current system does, but also allow newer members to ask clarifying questions to the question poster to be better able to answer their question in the first place.

tl;dr Should commenting on the question be permitted to all, even without being permitted to comment on answers?

  • I don't see any locks or protection on that question. Can you try again and post a screenshot of any error messages that you see? – Thomas Owens Jul 31 '18 at 16:25
  • It wasn't an error message but rather the lack of reputation points since I only started coming here regularyl and asnwering recently. I had specified it was form reputation but it did end up melding into the rest of the sentence – TurtleKwitty Jul 31 '18 at 17:04
  • Ah. I see. Let me provide an answer. – Thomas Owens Jul 31 '18 at 17:17
  • Possible duplicate of Proposition : Commenting with less than 50 Reputation – gnat Jul 31 '18 at 17:21

In order to comment everywhere (on posts you don't own), you need 50 reputation. This is pretty standard across the board on Stack Exchange sites that have graduated beta (and I'm unsure what the reputation requirements are on beta sites).

Personally, I think that commenting should be opened up more. However, I'm not sure what the ability to configure this looks like on the SE site.

  • That is a good point, I had not considered the fact that the comments might be in a single setting regardless of if they are on a question or on a comment – TurtleKwitty Jul 31 '18 at 17:23
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    10 rep would be enough to deter all but the most determined of spammers. – Robert Harvey Aug 7 '18 at 18:13

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