Appearance → Customize → Single Post → Show comments. On by default.
What the switch does
It controls whether Stoat prints the comment thread and form at the foot of a post. Below it, WordPress’s own rules still apply — the thread appears only when all of these are true:
- Show comments is on.
- Comments are open on this post, or the post already has comments.
- The post is not password-protected.
So a post with comments closed but twenty existing comments still shows the twenty, without a form. That is usually what you want on an old article.
WordPress’s settings, not the theme’s
Everything about how comments behave is at Settings → Discussion:
| Allow comments on new posts | the default for posts you write from now on |
| Close comments on articles older than n days | the usual moderation-load fix |
| Enable threaded comments n levels deep | Stoat styles the nesting |
| Comment author must fill out name and email | |
| Comment must be manually approved | |
| Avatars | the faces beside each comment |
Per post, the same toggle is in the editor sidebar under Discussion.
Threaded replies
With threaded comments on, WordPress’s comment-reply script is loaded — but only on singular pages where comments are actually open and threading is enabled. Turn threading off at Settings → Discussion and Stoat loads nothing extra at all; that is the one script besides modal.js the theme can ever enqueue on the front end.
Turning comments off site-wide
Three steps, because WordPress keeps them in three places:
- Settings → Discussion → untick Allow people to submit comments on new posts. This covers future posts only.
- Existing posts: Posts → All Posts, select all, Bulk actions → Edit, set Comments to Do not allow.
- Customize → Single Post → turn Show comments off, which also hides the count in the meta row.
A comment plugin instead
If you replace comments with a hosted service, that plugin usually filters comments_template and takes over the same slot. Leave Show comments on in that case — turning it off removes the slot the plugin is hooking into.
Related
- Post meta — the comment count
- Common issues