Rough Groove

How to adjust the number of comments displayed in Wordpress 2.6 admin panel

Update: Still applicable for Wordpress 2.7

I got a particular post that is quite popular that at one time, it reached 4,000 comments but due to heavy server transactions, my host provider blocked this blog until I do something about it. From time to time, I need to delete months old comment entries and because of the limited 25 items displayed at the editor, it surely was a very tedious process. I was searching for a solution and found one. However, due to changes under Wordpress 2.6, John’s instructions need to be updated:

• | Open the file edit-comments.php located inside the wp-admin folder with your favorite editor
• | Search (or press ctrl-F) for the number 20 as this is the default setting of Wordpress. You should get to the following code (20 is intentionally highlighted):

$comments_per_page = apply_filters(‘comments_per_page’, 20, $comment_status);

• | Change the number 20 to your desired number of comments to be displayed at the editor. Note that Wordpress adds (+5) to the set number
• | Save the file and upload

Now, when you go to the comments list at the admin panel the number of items displayed corresponds to what you edited. However, you need to do this everytime you upgrade to a new version of Wordpress. But its quite easy. Agree?