Comments enable other people to respond to your entries or to other comments associated with an entry.
ENABLING AND DISABLING COMMENTS
To enable or disable commenting in your journal, go to
http://www.livejournal.com/editinfo.bml and find the option labeled "Enable message boards". Selecting this option will enable comments; de-selecting it will disable them. (Note that when you change settings on this page, you need to save the changes by clicking the button labeled "Save Changes" toward the bottom of the page.) Here you can also set commenting options for your journal:
* Who can reply to your entries
* Whose IP addresses, if any, you want to log
* Which comments you want screened by default
It is also possible to disable commenting, disable comment notification emails, or change the screening options of an individual entry. (Disabling commenting, either for the entire journal or for a specific entry, will also hide any existing comments.) The web interface allows you to change these settings as desired; it is also possible to edit entries to change one of the comment options. Many clients available for download include the ability to set comment options for journal entries. For more information on your preferred client, consult its documentation or its menu options.
It is not possible to selectively enable comments or notification emails if they have been globally disabled for that journal.
FINDING AND READING COMMENTS
Your journal and Friends page will indicate the number of comments on any given entry. However, this number does not include screened comments.
Journals can customize what the comment link says, but the default link is # comments with the # being replaced by the number of unscreened comments. This is also a link to the page where you can read the comments.
You can also choose to receive an email notification anytime someone replies to one of your entries or comments. To do this, check the box next to "Get message board replies". You can also select whether you would like to receive plain text emails or HTML-enhanced ones. Paid, Permanent, and Early Adopter accounts can also receive notifications for comments that they write, by selecting the "Get comments you post e-mailed to you" option. This option is disabled for Free accounts; however, email notifications for received comments is available to all account types.
The full version of your userinfo page shows the number of comments you have received and posted. The first number, Posted: X, represents the number of comments you have made in any journal with that username. The second number, Received: Y, represents the number of comments that have been made in your journal. Any comments that you post in your own journal add to both your Posted and Received counts.
You can also view your most recent comments at
http://www.livejournal.com/tools/recent_comments.bml. Free accounts are able to see the last 10 comments they have posted in any journal or community and the last 10 comments they have received in their own journal. Paid, Permanent, and Early Adopter accounts can see the last 50 of each.
COMMENT THREADING
Comments are organized into threads; it is possible to reply directly to another comment, rather than just replying to the entry itself. A comment is considered a child of the parent comment (or entry) if it is a direct reply to it.
The "thread" link associated with a particular comment will display a single comment thread: that particular comment, plus any descendents (children, or children of children). The "parent" link functions similarly, starting one level up: the parent of that particular comment, plus any descendents of the parent comment. This allows you to view, or link to, a single thread of comments. (Top-level comments, which are direct replies to the entry, do not have the "parent" link, as the entry itself is the parent.)
When there are at least 50 comments on a page, the comment threads will collapse, so lower-level child comments display as a link rather than the full comment. This behavior is automatic, and thread collapsibility can be neither prevented nor triggered sooner.
FURTHER READING
Can I edit/delete/screen/freeze a comment I posted or that was posted in my journal?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=15
How do I control who can post comments in my journal?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=23
What is Comment IP Logging? What do you mean, "this user is logging my IP address"?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=66
What is comment screening? How do I set my screening options?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=134
Why am I unable to receive e-mail from LiveJournal?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=115
What is a downloadable client? Where can I get one?
http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=158
Update your journal on the web
http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml
Your journal
http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/
Your Friends page
http://www.livejournal.com/users/exampleusername/friends/
The full version of your userinfo page
http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=exampleusername&mode=full.
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