To explain why a certain block of code exists. When the code came into existence is rarely that important. You just want to know why.
Why does the code fence against a particular circumstance you didn't think should be possible? Why does it call out to something you think is unrelated? Those questions can be answered by a proper commit message.
Oh jeez, please do not make me run “git log” and then open a hundred tabs in an old bug tracker that may or may not still exist to figure out when a problem may have been introduced. I want code reviewers to insist on at least somewhat useful messages for us to skim at 3 AM.
Could you please stop breaking the site guidelines? You've been doing it a lot lately, unfortunately. Not just with these off-topic complaints about downvoting, but with comments like these:
We eventually ban accounts that carry on like this on HN. I don't want to ban you, so if you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
Some of those comments were in response to people calling me a liar with upvotes on their comments and downvotes on mine. It's incredibly irritating and frustrating when it appears those accusing me of lying not suffer any consequences.
For example (one that you linked to) a person said I was wrong and his comment wasn't flagged yet when I asked him to stop replying to my comments (many of my comments in the thread weren't on his comments) mine gets flagged https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32086054
It's certainly irritating and frustrating, but it doesn't make it ok to break the rules.
If you see a post that ought to have been moderated but hasn't been, the likeliest explanation is that we didn't see it. (There are far too many posts here for us to read them all.) You can help by flagging it or emailing us at hn@ycombinator.com.
(Mostly a rhetorical question) I'll probably never be able to do that if it's based on karma but my question is, if I stop saying things that get my comments flagged but proceed to get into negative ranking (ex: -50 or maybe -100 if I get on an unlucky roll) will I be banned by the system automatically? I assumed so which was the other reason that annoyed me
If karma goes below a certain threshold (I think it's -12) then the account's comments get autokilled, but only for as long as the karma remains below that threshold.
Because if 37 changes are done to the same 15 line function over time, the amount of comment material will dwarf the function. And most of it will pertain to historic versions of the function which are not what actually appears below the comment; a comment made 13 revisions ago makes sense for the 13-revision-old version of the function.
Why does the code fence against a particular circumstance you didn't think should be possible? Why does it call out to something you think is unrelated? Those questions can be answered by a proper commit message.