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I'm trying to post a comment that is 20 characters long, but "Comments must be at least 15 characters in length." Is this a bug?

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    $\begingroup$ I've refreshed it - even tried a different comment. Still no go. I can ask comments elsewhere on the site though... $\endgroup$
    – Timtech
    Sep 24, 2013 at 23:59
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    $\begingroup$ What's the comment text? $\endgroup$
    – Undo
    Sep 25, 2013 at 0:10
  • $\begingroup$ @Undo It was "@Undo Wow, thanks :D" $\endgroup$
    – Timtech
    Sep 25, 2013 at 0:12
  • $\begingroup$ It should work. Weird. (you're welcome, though :) $\endgroup$
    – Undo
    Sep 25, 2013 at 0:13
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    $\begingroup$ If you start a comment with @<original poster>, we strip that out (if there are no other people commenting on the post), as the original poster will already be notified of comments to their posts. So, 20 - 6 == 14... $\endgroup$
    – Oded
    Sep 25, 2013 at 11:35
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    $\begingroup$ @Oded Thanks for clearing that up :) $\endgroup$
    – Timtech
    Sep 25, 2013 at 20:28

1 Answer 1

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This is likely due to the SE software trying to be smart and helpful for you. If you're leaving a comment under Undo's post, and it would be that post's first comment — or, more accurately, the first one not posted by Undo or yourself — the system will assume that the comment is directed at Undo. Once it makes that decision, it'll figure that it can safely strip the "@Undo" out of the text of your comment. Finally, after that text is gone, it will count the number of characters you're trying to submit.

Most of the time, this reduces clutter and improves readability, but in cases like yours, it can be a bit confusing.

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