About locked comments

[kayshapero]

Final update - I'm unsticking this message because the discussion appears to be over. 

If you dig around in my old posts for some bizarre reason, you'll note that a number have had comments locked. This is because the anonymous idiots who like to post spam to any LJ journal they find an address for have gone from single posts to strings of 5 or 6 at a time, all of which while blocked from anybody else's view I still have to go delete because they'll collect in my backups. So hereinafter, when I have to do that I'll be locking further comments unless it would block an ongoing discussion. (I probably won't lock the lot proactively - I've been ON this thing for ten years) It's got nothing to do with the legitimate content. Though I'd like to hear from anybody in here who also uses Dreamwidth if they're having the same problem. I'm seriously considering moving if this keeps up.

I'm making this post sticky so I don't have to repeat it - right now (November 2, 2012) comments are open - we'll see how long this prevails.

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UPDATE: The posts I'm talking about are all from anonymous sources, never LJ members. I already screen them. Screening does NOT delete a post, it just marks it so nobody but the user can see them. The user still has to delete them by hand to fully get rid of them. Thanks for the suggestions, though.

OK everybody - please, please PLEASE read all of this carefully FIRST before making the nth suggestion to try things I Have Already Done, or will not help with the problem as I have actually stated it. OK?

Comments

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

I'd agree that that is a Bit Much. Actually, I'd go for more than a bit much. Do you get legitimate comments from anonymous people? If not you can set LJ to only allow comments from registered users. That allows comments from LJ users, validated open-ID users and people using Facebook logons.

[kayshapero]

a) yes, sometimes I do - there's a service that posts if someone references the post elsewhere which identifies as anonymous (though there's an identification within the post). Thus, it comes through screened so I can see it, but don't have to inflict it on everybody else. Also not all of my friends subscribe to LJ. Of course I might just cancel the service and warn non subscribers elsewhere, if I could have it delete all anonymous posts but -

b) No you can't - you can set LJ to screen comments not from registered users, or not from friends, or whatever. Those posts are Still There, just not visible to anybody but you.

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

Regarding b), I can set my LJ to only allow comments from registered users and if I can, I don't see why you can't. Unless they've changed something recently, that means exactly what it says it means - comments from others are just plain not allowed. It doesn't delete anonymous posts. It doesn't ever allow them to be made to start with. That is a separate setting from the setting for screening.

[kayshapero]

OK, what is the exact name of the setting, is it in the old or the new editor or is it in the options area?

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

"Enable comments" is what it is called. For me, it is right above the comment screening setting on the privacy tab in my account settings. I believe you can also set it for individual posts when you compose them.

[kayshapero]

The closest thing I can find in the old editor to "Enable comments" reads "Allow Comments?" The new one calls it "Comments" and is just above "Screening". I've got a paid account, fwiw.
OH - "Enable Comments" choices are "Journal default, disable, locked, don't notify", so I'm pretty sure it's not Enable Comments. And Comment Screening is what it's described as. "Comments" in the new one is just "default, disabled, no email".

[kk1raven.livejournal.com]

Did you try looking at the account settings rather than the editor? I'm not sure about being able to do it from the editor at all. I don't use the editor, old or new, to post to LJ so I don't pay a lot of attention to what it can do. I'm sure about "enable comments" being in the account settings for me though. That's not the kind of thing I'd expect to depend on which theme you were using so I think it ought to be there for you too.

[kayshapero]

I'm trying lemmozine's idea and will see what happens.