Build 9003 behaviour:

When the ChangeManager (Change Role permitted to edit the 'Submission' tab regardless of which Stage the Change is currently in) uses the Global Edit form, whether or not the 'Stage' and/or 'Status' are being edited, the 'Status Comments' field is starred as mandatory ( *) and will allow text entry.  

If the 'Stage' or 'Status' are edited, the field actually is mandatory and you will be prompted to complete it before you can save the global Edit form. The entered text will then be registered under the 'Status Comments' section in the appropriate Change Stage.

Issue: 

If the 'Stage' and/or 'Status' is not being changed, the field only appears to be mandatory and will accept text.  Once the form is saved, however, any text entered into the field is gone.  It does not register as a Status Comment, or appear in the history. In short, data entered into the field and saved is lost.  

Fix request: 

Please either enable 'Status Comments' to be used as a 'Reason for Status change or Edit' field that is mandatory and enforced for all Global Edit situations, or disable (grey out) the field to prevent users thinking that entered data will be saved (when 'Stage' or 'Status' are not being edited).