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There is a certain user, let's call them A., that has the tendency to comment on every post that mentions Schwartz distributions, usually accompanied by a downvote. These comments are completely unhelpful (they do not serve the purposes outlined in the help centre). In fact, they are always of the form "OP does not understand distributions", which is very much false: OP's claims are (usually) perfectly correct, and it is A. who doesn't understand distributions.

These comments are not only very annoying, but also dangerous to some degree. If OP is not knowledgeable enough to defend themselves, they may be led to think A. is right and they are wrong. Which is never the case, as far as I can see.

I am sure many of you know who I am talking about. What can be done about this disruptively repetitive behaviour? I tried to ask A. to stop making this kind of comments, but to no avail.

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I'd like to take a step back from the concrete topic of distributions. I read through several discussions and comments, and I agree that the user's comments don't have the goal to be insightful. Instead, many of them are uncomfortably harsh and rarely say more than "You are wrong. Where is the reference for that?"

Here are some examples

  • I will be waiting for a serious answer.
  • No reference. Sorry, I have noting to discuss in such style.
  • Arguments are over nongrounded words.
  • Thank you. You open an opened door.

However, to me, it appears that (1) the user is really entitled to the topic of DiracDelta and many of the slightly borderline comments happen around these posts and (2), the user is possibly not a native speaker and what we experience as being harsh, might be due to the language barrier.

Nevertheless, we have a code of conduct which is pretty clear about that:

Be kind and friendly - Avoid sarcasm and be careful with jokes — tone is hard to decipher online. If a situation makes it hard to be friendly, stop participating and move on.

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  • Thank you for your feedback. Is there any plan of action?
    – AccidentalFourierTransform
    Dec 9, 2018 at 21:23
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    On a different note, I personally don't mind harsh comments. I do mind pointless comments that serve no purpose, and even more so incorrect comments that might mislead OP or other readers. On top of that, I very much mind users that consistently post pointless and wrong comments and will refuse to stop doing so when asked to, by many different people, on many different occasions.
    – AccidentalFourierTransform
    Dec 9, 2018 at 21:27
  • @AccidentalFourierTransform We discuss the course of action internally. I also have seen that some of the troubling comments were in the direction of users that have a long history of being knowledgeable, patient, and always friendly.
    – halirutan Mod
    Dec 9, 2018 at 21:28
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    Oh, sure, I don't expect you to discuss what's the course of action here. It is sufficient for me to know that it is being discussed internally. You didn't say anything about an ongoing/planned internal discussion in your answer, and I was afraid your position was "yeah, the situation is not ideal but I'm not going to do anything about it". Thank you for clarifying!
    – AccidentalFourierTransform
    Dec 9, 2018 at 21:31
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    Perhaps, flagging these inappropriate comments would be appropriate.
    – bbgodfrey
    Dec 10, 2018 at 1:19
  • @bbgodfrey correct. Some of them were so I would suggest, if one is aware of a recidivism, please mention it when flagging.
    – Kuba Mod
    Dec 10, 2018 at 7:19

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