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I just came across a thread on books on traps in chess: Books for chess traps

The chosen answer mentions a free ebook by Bill Wall, who I did not know, and as I was trying it, the very first example given seems to contain an error. I wanted to ask the member if he himself had gone through the book or knew Wall's rating or just quality of his work, but I can't. I guess I can't PM members either. So I don't know what to do, aside from making another thread and just refer to that thread and ask my question...which I just decided not to do because to me it's unnecessary really.

In my view at least, it's odd that I can make a whole new thread or I can make a big "answer" post despite my low credits, yet I can't make a short comment barely visible to anybody else and for that I need more credits. Can someone explain this logic?

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    Comments aren't reviewed, maybe that's the difference? Overall I would say the SE system of moderation does a good job of holding the trolls at bay, so I wouldn't change it too much.
    – Dag Oskar Madsen
    Commented Dec 3, 2016 at 9:04

2 Answers 2

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StackExchange is above all else a question and answer site, as opposed to a discussion site. A comment thread on a SE post is not like a thread on reddit, as many first time users expect it to be. A reputation requirement to comment helps ensure that comments are on topic, of high quality, and in accordance with the norms of the site. The hope is that while earning the necessary reputation, users will learn how things are done here before posting the first thing that crosses their mind.

There is the unfortunate consequence that some new users are unable to post what would in fact be a high quality comment, as you apparently were, but I'd wager that these are far less than the number of off-topic nonsense posts that are filtered out. Commenting is a relatively early privilege so people aren't kept out for too long.

This question has been answered in greater detail in this thread: Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead?

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Even this is a comment I am obliged to write it as an answer. Maybe this clarify the point of the original poster. I also can't comment anything, but can propose answers. Is that efficient? I feel blocked.

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