I've had a few posts in the recent weeks coming through off old posts. Whilst a blog is there for news, information etc. sometimes you just don't want to go back over old ground. After someone else asked how to stop comments after X posts I took a quick look and found a plugin called Extended Comment Options. This simply gives you more options with your comments and you can control when comments close, whether to keep certain ones open, whether to close pingbacks as well etc. So I've set comments to close after 3 months however I may run through and select a few to keep open, mainly on my PHP posts.
However I'm undecided as to whether it's a good idea to close comments. I know a lot of big blogs do this but I'm hardly busy when it comes to commenters. Perhaps 6 months is a better figure. I don't want to alienate anyone who does want to comment on an earlier post however certain posts or news is no longer fresh after 4 months and a discussion into it after that length of time sometimes isn't worth it. Any thoughts on closing comments?
A good idea to close them after 6 months methinks. I've started closing the older ones on me blog that are acting like spam magnets. That's the only reason I can think of to close them. Good enough though.
I think this is the main reason to close the comments due to spam. Luckily I don't seem to suffer as badly as you Chris, but it may help cut down a little and also prepare for the future
I dont have any spam comments
But I read your posts as and when they appear, so this wont affect a regular reader like myself, just anyone who finds you through a search engine.
Well I don't really get spam as they're all caught, 1 in a blue moon slips through and I actually get an email, that's about all. But I'm thinking if comments are closed then it would be less server resources needed.
Yeah that's what I'm half concerned over though. I don't want to annoy new visitors who could become regulars by closing early comments, but then at the same time I don't want posts dragging up for 5 months ago and turned into another debate! Questions left on my PHP posts are fine as they won't date much for the time being, but other posts date very quickly in my opinion.
I also know I've been to other sites where the comments have been closed or threads locked in a forum after just a month and that's baffled me. I guess Chris is right, 6 months should be okay, it's long enough for news items and short enough for out dated posts and any spam it may curb too.