Deleted comments are gone for good, though they still exist in the database. There are various greasemonkey scripts to try and track them.
(tags: deletedcomments comments deleted ) March 6, 2006 - back to questions

Every comment has a permalink associated with it. If you click on the timestamp on a comment, the URL that shows in your browser's address bar is the permanent link to that comment.
(tags: permalink comments ) May 19, 2006 - back to questions

After a certain amount of time, threads that remain open get closed to new comments.

MetaFilter/MetaTalk/MetaFilter Music - 30 days (except the MeTa meetup category which stay open for six months)
Ask MetaFilter - one year
MetaFilter Projects - never
(tags: threads comments closed ) August 2, 2006 - back to questions

The live preview seen below the comment forms shows a real-time approximation of your comment, but does not go through the extensive text filtering done on the server side. As a result, it's possible to place almost any HTML code into a comment and reproduce it in the live preview area, but that code is stripped out once the comment is posted to the site.

If you are wondering if your HTML code will display properly, please use the Preview button before your post. The Preview button will render things like &lt; into < however, so before you post, you have to re-type things like angle brackets into their &lt; format. We are aware that this is a less-than-perfect solution.
(tags: html livepreview comments ) October 17, 2006 - back to questions

Post or comments are not edited for content. Sometimes a post or comment will be edited for these reasons

- at the request of the poster, for minor reasons
- fixing a broken link
- fixing a typo in a front page post
- putting a NSFW indicator in
- moving part of a long post to a "more inside" location
- adding tags
- removing personal information from a post [ex: whois records, email addresses] that is against the guidelines
- removing a gratuitous self-link in an otherwise okay post or comment
(tags: editing comments posts ) May 3, 2006 - back to questions

Ask MetaFilter has more strict guidelines than MetaFilter. If an Ask MetaFilter thread is removed, there will be a reason for deletion at the old URL for the question. Ask MetaFilter questions should have a purpose or a problem to be solved. Since members get one AskMe post per week, please do not try to jam multiple questions into a single question, a few related questions in one post are fine.

Common reasons for thread removal are chatfilter questions, open-ended hypothetical questions, rants posing as questions, questions asking how to do things that are illegal or borderline illegal, questions asking for detailed personal/private information, "why does X suck/not suck?" questions, and nonsense questions.

Ask MetaFilter comments should address the question being asked. Common reasons for comment removal are gratuitous wisecracks, derailing/ranting/axegrinding, picking a fight with or heavy chastising of the question asker, single word posts (yes, no, maybe &c.) and other non-answers that should probably be brought to MetaTalk.
(tags: askme askmetafilter comments posts ) September 10, 2006 - back to questions