[wp-hackers] Close old comments and pingbacks: feature or plugin?

[Chetan Kunte]

Putting on a normal end-user hat on [I was never anything else btw;
trying to shake-off the geek dust that I seem to have caught-on with
the excellent folks here on this forum :)]:

I am wondering if Wordpress should have simple toggle switches to
close/open all comments and pingbacks in one click for all old posts.

Everyone on this forum knows how easy it is to do this in PhpMyadmin,
but for those not aware of command lines or are afraid to use anything
other than what's available in Wordpress admin panel, this might be of
some good use?

Personally, I use Akismet. It does an awesome job. Until a month ago,
I used to have all posts open to comments and pingbacks, and I was
receiving spam on old entries of about 500 a day. Sometimes, I got
lucky and got around 1000 a day or so. Now after closing, I have just
about 5-10 per day.

I see having "close all comments and pingbacks" toggle switches
benefit in two ways:

1. It helps blog owner close all previous entries to comments and
pingbacks when he is bombarded with spam when his blog is deviod of
any plugin protection.

2. Reduces load on those wonderful spam services/plugins: Akismet,
Spam Karma and others.

My blog is sending less spam for verification to Akismet, when I am
able to turn off comments and pingbacks on old entries, for which I no
longer solicit comments. This way, my spam burden on Akismet is
reduced and Akismet may help two or three more in the same amount of
resources. Mutually beneficial?
-- 
Chetan, ckunte.com