What if I turned commenting off and how would I do it?

[des]

After I enthused a colleague about BlogHarbor as a great blogging platform, he tried to post a comment on my blog and then went through the dance of figuring out and signing up for a Reader account. He is now convinced it is all too hard and if he uses BlogHarbor for his business blog he will lose customers. He wants to know whether we could turn commenting off.

I don't think he's really got what blogging is about, but I found it an interesting question. John?
_________________
Des Walsh
Gold Coast, Australia
www.thinkinghomebusiness.com
Author, 7 Step Business Blog
http://www.7stepbusinessblog.com

[john]

He wants to know whether we could turn commenting off.

Yes, of course you can turn comments off. There is a whole section in the manual on Setting Blog Commenting Defaults. See the page on Enabling and Disabling Comments.

The Publisher's Manual really does have a lot of information. I think that the best way to get the most out of our manual or any technical manual is not necessarily to read the manual inside and out but to become very familiar with the table of contents. It's not necessary that you know everything, but that you know where to go to learn, as my dad always used to say. If you study the table of contents of the manual rather than the manual itself, you'll probably start picking up things more quickly as the next time a question comes to mind, you'll probably immediately think of the section of the manual to look it up in.

After I enthused a colleague about BlogHarbor as a great blogging platform, he tried to post a comment on my blog and then went through the dance of figuring out and signing up for a Reader account.

We rarely comment on what features are forthcoming, but I am going to break that rule just this once.

Within the month (if all goes as planned), we expect to release a significant update to the commenting system. We're adding a middle ground between anonymous and unauthenticated users (users who haven't signed in to your blog with their Reader Account) to provide a way for your vistors to comment without authenticating but still leave Contact Information; i.e. their name, email address, and URL.

Some details to be worked out, but you're going to get a significant upgrade in this area very soon. And this upgrade will include comment moderation features! This whole path of development was all about answering concerns like those voiced by your colleague, so I think you'll see the majority of those concerns addressed in a very short time.

More information about this upcoming release in a few weeks...

[des]

John

Yes, RTFM or RTFMIndex is good advice and I am suitably chastened . I actually thought it would not be possible to turn off commenting, so I realise I should be more open-minded!

Thank you for sharing the upcoming upgrade info with us. That is very welcome news!

Des
_________________
Des Walsh
Gold Coast, Australia
www.thinkinghomebusiness.com
Author, 7 Step Business Blog
http://www.7stepbusinessblog.com

[john]

Yes, RTFM or RTFMIndex is good advice and I am suitably chastened

Didn't mean for it to come off as chastening.

[des]

[fmkatz]

I turned off comments yesterday (as per TFM) and it worked just fine for new postings. But, the older postings still have all the comment fields.
Is that how it's supposed to be?

Also, speaking of the manual: any chance of a PDF version being made available?
Thanks,
Fred Katz

[john]

I turned off comments yesterday (as per TFM) and it worked just fine for new postings. But, the older postings still have all the comment fields.

Unfortunately there is no "master switch" to turn off comments on previous posts, you would need to turn off comments on a per article basis. After this week's update, you will be able to turn moderation on for comments on a global basis. If you choose this option, your past posts would allow comments but they would not be displayed on the blog immediately, they would sit in a queue waiting for your approval.

Also, speaking of the manual: any chance of a PDF version being made available?

Yes, there is a chance.