zlacker

Comments to explain downvotes are nice, and should perhaps be encouraged, but they certainly shouldn't be mandatory.

>>TRiG_I+(OP)
They are explicitly discouraged in the guidelines this thread is about.

>>pvg+yp
Commenting about downvotes themselves is discouraged. Commenting on the reasons why somebody was downvoted is a separate matter

>>TRiG_I+(OP)
> Comments to explain downvotes are nice

Downvotes are for material that does not support productive discussion, if it is productive to discuss a comment (even on a meta level like “why it is a bad comment”?), then downvoting is inappropriate.

>>yjftsj+Zy
No it's not. It's the whole meta-discussion about voting in general. And, it doesn't say it explicitly, but almost all meta-discussion itself. You can find both of these explained in the moderator commentary over the years.