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I'd suggest its bad form to delete comments that add context to an answer -- edit that information into the answer first! (Obviously preferable for the person leaving the comment to use the edit button, but the world is seldom perfect.)

This is especially true since there's no notification that comments have been deleted.

Or in other words:

(Self-contained answers) > (Incomplete answers with additional information in the comments) > (Incomplete answers with no information in the comments)

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    \$\begingroup\$ We agree and certainly try to, but there's a lot of gray area. How much context or content should a comment contain to be edited in? If you think it's that import of a comment, edit it in. \$\endgroup\$
    – C. Ross
    Oct 10 '13 at 16:20
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    \$\begingroup\$ Complaining "in general" is hard to action on. Cite specific questions/answers if possible. Otherwise, what @CRoss said. One man's context is often another man's marginally on topic blather. \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Oct 11 '13 at 0:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ I also agree. Large blocs of comments tend to get deleted en masse (save, maybe, for those that are significantly upvoted and that can stand alone), and the more there are the more likely they are to be deleted, as discussions and arguments are bad. We are happy to discuss specific instances where you feel that we were in error, but in general, if you see a long comment string, edit it in before it's flagged as obsolete (our primary means of finding bad comments is the community). \$\endgroup\$
    – Brian Ballsun-Stanton
    Oct 11 '13 at 0:44

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