I think a formal answer is always better than an answer made in a comment. I believe this is true even when both the question and answer are simple. Here is why.
- Formal answers are more likely to be read than comments.
- The content of a formal answer is looked at by our search engine; the content of comments are not.
For the above reasons, I am frequently guilty of the practice Feyre complains about. I usually make any such answer a Community Wiki answer because I am not doing this to grab reputation. Up to now, I have made 98 such answers. Sometimes, I don't make an answer derived from comments a Community Wiki answer because I believe I have contributed significant additional value when I wrote the answer or, I am sorry to say, I forgot to check the Community Wiki box. For the latter, I apologize, but not the former.