New users often mention that they can't comment. Veteran users often say "you can always comment on your own question." I'm wondering about the disconnect, could it be that the new users are trying to comment on answers?
If it is I'm wondering if there could be an automatic message that tells low reputation users that they can comment on their own posts – maybe in response to clicking on the comment links. It could also mention that have a reputation on other SE sites carries over.
See here. Users can always comment on any part of their own posts (whether question or answer) as well as any part of their question.
The reputation needed to comment everywhere is 50, and users who have an account in good standing elsewhere on SE with at least 100 points will start this site with 101 points, and will obtain the privilege.
I am a new user, I can answer this definitively.
A new user can comment, but only on his questions, his answers, or answers by others on his questions.
Check out my post here for definitive proof.
For users below 50 points:
Rules:
Rules:
Rules:
The disconnect is because new users very often don't have registered accounts. They post their question and come back a few hours/days later and they've forgotten their password and their browser has lost the cookie. They create a new account with a similar or even identical name, but the account that is trying to comment is not the account that created the question, so they can't comment.
If you click the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page, you'll see that "I need to merge user profiles" is one of the topics in the drop-down list.
