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I flagged the following comment (in this question) as obsolete:

Comment I claim is obsolete

since the tag has been blacklisted (see http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/q/8729/139). This flag was declined.

It seems like a clear-cut case of being obsolete to me, but perhaps I'm missing something.

Question: Should I flag comments about the blacklisted tag as obsolete? Am I missing something?

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    $\begingroup$ It might be worth flagging with a custom message explaining why the comment is obsolete, because I certainly wouldn't immediately realize "oh, the graph tag has been deleted, so this is no longer relevant". $\endgroup$
    – Alex Becker
    Aug 17, 2013 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ Actually, I would probably have deleted the comment as obsolete even without the extended explanation. It seems pretty clear that (a) Martin fixed the incorrect tag (b) one year after the OP last edited the question. And all that being 5 months ago. I think we can safely say that the comment has either served its purpose or will unlikely ever to serve a purpose... $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong
    Aug 19, 2013 at 22:23
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    $\begingroup$ ... but each moderator's cut-off line is different. So the best course of action is generally to assume that we cannot read minds and explain the flag in detail when it may be unclear. We'll never decline a flag because it is too detailed. :-) $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong
    Aug 19, 2013 at 22:24
  • $\begingroup$ Douglas S. Stones: I've deleted several my comments of this type. Of course, I could have missed a few. (And I have left one or two on purpose, in cases when other information was given in the same comment.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 20, 2013 at 6:11
  • $\begingroup$ @AlexBecker Might I ask about a little clarification? So you recommend (unless it is clear why the comment is obsolete) that instead of choosing obsolete I flag the comment as other and enter the message "This comment is obsolete, because ...". (AFAIK other is the only type of flag where you can add a message. Or am I mistaken?) As we are already discussing this - if a comment is about a typo in a post (which already has been corrected), then it seems rather clear why the "flagger" considers the comment obsolete and more detailed explanation is not needed, right? $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 20, 2013 at 6:21
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    $\begingroup$ @MartinSleziak Yes and yes. In general, if a comment is about a correction which needs to be made to the post (and is something like a typo which it is easy to verify has been fixed), then obsolete is fine. But if it might not be obvious why the comment is obsolete, flag as other with a message. $\endgroup$
    – Alex Becker
    Aug 20, 2013 at 6:26

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Okay, to give this question an answer (questions like answers):

It'd be helpful to moderators to provide a specific description as to why the comment is regarded as obsolete.

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  • $\begingroup$ As clarified in Alex Becker's comment, if you want to add additional explanation, you need to flag as other instead of obsolete. (When flagging an obsolete, you do not have possibility to add a custom message.) $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Aug 20, 2013 at 6:37

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