Closing Comments on A Page
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I’d like to close both the Pages and Posts on my blog to new comments for the time being, but I would like to keep all existing comments in place.
I’m using the CONTEMPT theme, and while all of the comments stay put when unchecking “Allow Comments” for a POST, when this option is unchecked for a PAGE, it automatically removes all of the comments from that page (another charming WordPress quirk).
It’s possible that a different theme might offer a solution, but it would also be a horrific nightmare for me to switch, inasmuch as when I first set up my site, I had already spent long hours customizing the CSS for the Contempt theme that I’m using, and I hardly want to go through that ordeal again.
If I could simply find some way to tweak the CSS code so that I could just remove the Comment entry form and “Submit Comments” button without deleting the comments themselves, that would be fine, but I’ve already spent several hours tinkering with the CSS, but to no avail.
If anyone has any suggestions on how this could be done, they would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
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The way I understand it, the css upgrade for allows the customization of appearance only through editing of the external style sheet. It seems unlikely to me that the way comments are treated would be found there. I think that’s more likely to be found in the HTML of the underlying template that we cannot edit. http://faq.wordpress.com/2005/09/27/edit-my-templates/
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Well, in point of fact, I’ve gotten as far as being able to find within CSS the code that controls the size of the input form for Comments, enabling me to shrink the form to make it so narrow as to be impossible to accommodate any input. And yet, removing the that piece of code altogether won’t remove the form!
So I suppose that by narrowing the comment box to make it impossible to leave a comment, I could, in effect, render the capability moot. But it would certainly be nice to find a more elegant solution…and nicer still, of course, if WordPress would stop ignoring the problem with Akismet vaporizing legitimate comments left by readers.
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You can always close comments on any post or page as you’re writing it with one click under Discussion, which you can find on the right of the Write page. There’s no way to automate it as far as I know, but it takes no more time than adding a category tick.
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Just for the record, and for anyone else trying to find a similar patch, this is as close as I’ve been able to come:
Under: #commentform input: Change the width to 0px
Under: #commentform textarea: Change the width to 0%.
Those two steps will eliminate both the comment submission form and “Submit Comments” button without removing all of the previously submitted comments. However, the words “Leave A Reply” remain at the bottom of the page; the patch simply removes any place below those words to do so.
It only took me 3 hours to figure that one out. If WordPress would once and for all address this issue, I, and others, wouldn’t have to keep wasting our time applying band-aids to a gaping wound that cries out for closure.
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If you use the method I posted, the text clearly indicates that comments have been closed. You could, presumably, sift through the CSS to find the actual text and change it to “comments closed” or whichever you like.
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Raincoaster, I appreciate the help from forum volunteers such as yourself, but if you’re going to offer that help, it would really be helpful to EVERYONE if you would thoroughly read the problem as stated.
If you go back and take another look at my inquiry, you’ll see that I mentioned the fact that I wanted to be able to close comments WITHOUT eliminating existing comments. I have already asserted, and timethief has confirmed, that for several themes, including CONTEMPT — the one that I use for my site — the standard technique for closing comments preserves existing comments only to a POST, NOT to a PAGE. So the technique that you described will NOT work, and that’s why I was seeking aan alternative solution for the problem.
If you look at the page cross referenced on this page by timethief, you’ll see that timethief has found at least two other themes that for which the quirk that I just outlined also holds true.
Again, the help is appreciated, but if you don’t fully assimilate the facts in the question being asked, then the answer provided can often, as in this instance, be inaccurate.
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golddigger, I did read your question thoroughly. That is why I restricted it to a post or page as you’re writing it, as you can see in my first comment. Reading what’s posted is important, we all agree.
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Raincoaster, I see and appreciate the distinction that you’re pointing out, but I’m afraid that I still don’t understand how your original reply relates to my original question, which asked if anyone knew of any means of closing a Page to any further comments without all of the existing comments on that page disappearing.
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@golddiggers
I can hear your frustration and although I could be wrong, it does seem to me that we volunteers are simply not able to address your issues effectively. IMO the way to go is for you to discuss them directly with staff. http://wordpress.com/contact-support/Best wishes :)
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My suggestion was for your future posts, so that until such time as a CSS solution presents itself, at least you won’t have to worry about this applying to your new posts and have to go back and change them.
There is, come to think of it, a non-CSS workaround, which is to copy all of the comments and edit the original post to paste them in at the bottom, then follow my suggestion and disallow comments in the side column. I have done this myself and while there is a bit of change in the format, it is still clear which are the comments and which is the actual post. I don’t know how it changes things on My Comments, though.
Here is my example:
http://raincoaster.com/2007/01/01/would-you-watch-saddam-hussein-die/Note that even though I’ve completely changed the CSS in the meantime, the format still works.
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Let us know if this solution works for you. If it doesn’t, TT is right, and you’ll probably have to wait for staff to change the way the pages themselves actually work.
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This is just to inform everyone that on the Digg3 theme you cannot close comments (without the existing comments disappearing) on either POSTS or Pages.
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Nitawriter, you are absolutely correct. That’s precisely why the only workaround is the one that I outlined in my October 15th post above.
Of course, a real and permanent solution to this problem could be realized if the staff at WordPress would awaken from their state of denial and acknowledge that there is an ongoing and insidious defect in Akismet, which continues, as it has since at least August, to gobble up Comments, whether legitimate or SPAM, without allowing the WordPress user to ever see the Comments in order to decide whether they should be posted or trashed.
The WordPress staff has known about this problem for at least three months now, I and others have contacted Support about it and never even received the courtesy of a reply, and meanwhile, the problem, of course, just continues to fester.
So for me and who-knows-how-many other WordPress users, the built-in Comment system remains broken and useless, and thus, I at least, have turned to the only alternative that I could think of, which is to employ the workaround that I’ve described above.
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