Difference between comment and response

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I was wondering what difference it makes when people use comment instead of respond to this discussion button. Some people obviously make the mistake from time to time and maybe I did it myself without noticing it, but in that case, will it affect your earnings, or your rating? I can imagine some users get upset when people make the mistake and thus are more likely to give them a negative rating (I don´t) but I was wondering if there were any other ways that this mistake can affect any user that use comment by mistake.