When a comment gets a certain number of flags, the [flagged] marker appears on the comment. When it gets an additional number of flags, the comment becomes killed and the [dead] marker also appears.
If a reader does not have 'showdead' turned on in their profile, or is logged out, then the text of [dead] comments is not displayed. Instead it will show as either [flagged] or [dead]. This is what happened with your comment when it was in the [flagged][dead] state. Had you viewed it with 'showdead' turned on in your profile, you would have seen that the comment was still readable and not deleted.
Once I unkilled it, it went back from [flagged][dead] to just [flagged], and it went back to being visible to everyone whether they are logged in or not, or have 'showdead' turned on or not.
If you're logged in and seeing some comments that just say [flagged] instead of text, this is because you haven't yet turned on 'showdead' in your profile.
> Once I unkilled it, it went back from [flagged][dead] to just [flagged], and it went back to being visible to everyone whether they are logged in or not, or have 'showdead' turned on or not.
In other words, you resurrected the deleted text. I just hope this conversation will not be deleted/flagged again and become unreadable.
I don't want to argue definitions. If you prefer to call a comment 'deleted' which anyone with 'showdead' turned on in their profile can read, that's fine. On HN, we've always used the word 'dead' for that class of comments.
I don't want to argue about what to call it. I just confirmed the fact that the text that was deleted and made unreadable is back to readable. Still, I'm surprised that comments are sometimes hidden from even being present here.
If a reader does not have 'showdead' turned on in their profile, or is logged out, then the text of [dead] comments is not displayed. Instead it will show as either [flagged] or [dead]. This is what happened with your comment when it was in the [flagged][dead] state. Had you viewed it with 'showdead' turned on in your profile, you would have seen that the comment was still readable and not deleted.
Once I unkilled it, it went back from [flagged][dead] to just [flagged], and it went back to being visible to everyone whether they are logged in or not, or have 'showdead' turned on or not.
If you're logged in and seeing some comments that just say [flagged] instead of text, this is because you haven't yet turned on 'showdead' in your profile.