I agree that this is a failure mode, but it’s not an absolute one: people could explain to you via PM. Then you’d be free to edit the comment, and if its score floated back up discussion could ensue below.
PMd explanations are not publicly visible, so they don’t help others who read the thread and make the same mistake as the downvoted poster. They can’t be upvoted by others, which removes a big (in my experience) incentive to post the explanations.
Also, visible actions spread. Someone who posts a correction encourages other people to post corrections to other comments, while someone who PMs does not encourage that behavior. But it is also visible how many responses there are, so that people don’t overwhelm an individual with responses, while they might overwhelm with PMs.
Also, with visible explanations everybody knows what already has been explained and what hasn’t. If it were common to explain things via PM, some points would be raised multiple times while others not at all, depending on the number of readers estimating enough high probability that they are the first to comment on an issue and thus not wasting their time by making duplicite comments.
I agree that this is a failure mode, but it’s not an absolute one: people could explain to you via PM. Then you’d be free to edit the comment, and if its score floated back up discussion could ensue below.
PMd explanations are not publicly visible, so they don’t help others who read the thread and make the same mistake as the downvoted poster. They can’t be upvoted by others, which removes a big (in my experience) incentive to post the explanations.
Also, visible actions spread. Someone who posts a correction encourages other people to post corrections to other comments, while someone who PMs does not encourage that behavior. But it is also visible how many responses there are, so that people don’t overwhelm an individual with responses, while they might overwhelm with PMs.
Also, with visible explanations everybody knows what already has been explained and what hasn’t. If it were common to explain things via PM, some points would be raised multiple times while others not at all, depending on the number of readers estimating enough high probability that they are the first to comment on an issue and thus not wasting their time by making duplicite comments.