Why are more and more users answering in the comments to the question?

Question

Habr Q&A

...instead of writing an answer. And this often happens even if the answer is obviously correct and exhaustive.

What is the problem?

Answer 1

I do this when I do not consider what is written worthy of an answer. Sometimes the question is too elementary, sometimes I pushed the person in the right direction more than I gave a specific solution.

Answer 2

Personal - I do this when I'm not sure if this is the answer AND I don't understand the subject area

Answer 3

because they can
because the interface of the site is such that it prompts the user to do this (there are two text input fields on the screen, the first is for a comment, the second is for an answer, people poke that the first one comes across.
the solution is to edit the ui (make the input field absent by default and appeared only if the user clicked to answer or comment) and, for example, add the ability for curators to translate the comment thread into a separate answer (it is ambiguous what to do if there is both a comment and a response from the user)

Answer 4

Not sure more often.
Usually they answer in comments either by accident, or if the responder considers his answer not very important or banal.

Answer 5

I do this when there is no sensible answer, but I want to say something on the topic. And by the way, I would not say that it has become "more often". Nifiga in my opinion has not changed.