Site-level comment options may override individual post settings. Improve help/docs.

[niallkennedy]

Post comments may be automatically closed for a site's posts if site option 'close_comments_for_old_posts' is true and the post was published before 'close_comments_days_old' days ago. These two options are set in options-discussion and override the 'comment_status' of an individual post.

The edit posts screen's comment meta box displays comments open/close status, allowing publishers to open or close comments for a single post. It's possible the site-level discussion settings will override the individual post yet we still might display a different post comment status than the site settings allow.

1. Enable site-level option to close comments on articles ( wp-admin/options-discussion.php#close_comments_for_old_posts )
2. Enter a days value of 1 for maximum impact
3. Edit a post published over a day ago
4. View the Discussion meta box ( #commentstatusdiv )
5. Interact with the 'comment_status' field

I would like to better communicate expected failure and let the post author or editor know this particular setting has been overridden at the site options level. If the current user can manage options I might you could link to the override in the options page.

I created a new test blog, set comments to auto-close after a day, and checked allow comments in the post screen. I was wondering why comments_open() was false for the post when I was looking at a checked box on the post screen.

[niallkennedy]

Disable comments input checkbox in post meta box if change will have no effect

[DrewAPicture]

Related: #27111

[DrewAPicture]

I'm not sure if disabling the settings would be the way to go here, though I'd like to get ux-feedback on that. We could add text to the meta box to explain what's going on or override as with the disabling of the inputs. Neither really seems ideal.

[karmatosed]

If I am understanding this right and because of a configuration the settings can't be changed but look like they can from the front end, then having a disabling makes sense. Having them totally removed makes sense if they can't be used. You could take the approach of also having a message saying why they are removed. I would recommend that only though if the person using the front end wouldn't know - potentially the case.

[rachelbaker]

Looks like @karmatosed weighed in with some initial UX feedback. Sounds like to determine a path forward here we need a refreshed patch and some screenshots for ux-feedback to have some UX to give feedback on.

[karmatosed]

We went through this in this week's triage for the ux-feedback tag. Screenshots and a refreshed patch would still be great.

[joyously]

Here is what it looks like now. Regardless of the value of the site Discussion setting "Automatically close comments on articles older than x days", this post-specific checkbox is available.

[joyously]

This is a proposed solution: to show the actual comment status of the post and still allow it to be changed. The message could include a link to the other setting.

[joyously]

I agree with Drew that disabling the setting doesn't seem like the way to go. The problem is that the individual post setting is not the only thing that affects the status, so it is not accurate to call this setting a "comment status". The "Allow" verbiage is accurate to indicate that comments are allowed on the post or not, but the whole picture is not presented to the user. In the screenshot above, I show one way to give a more complete status for the individual post. I think it's important that the user can still adjust the option for the post he is editing, even if he has to go somewhere else to make it actually happen. But that could be a good thing if you think about a case where you set all the posts the way you want first, and then change the global setting when they are all ready.

[andraganescu]

I too like the attached solution by @joyously in the sense that it is a very clear message presented:

• comments are allowed on the post
• no more comments can be made because the post is too old

This allows various scenarios when maybe the author refreshes the post and so the comments reopen, or they change the automatic comment closure setting and the comments are still allowed.

Disabling the option simply removes the actual problem from sight.