How can I close comments on a mass scale?

Question

Having just relaunched a site containing a decade of content, I'd like to close comments on everything over a couple years old.

I thought there was something built in, but either it's not there or I can't find it.

Is there an add-on? Or a simple sequel statement?

Answer 1

There is a setting under Admin → Channel Administration → Channels → Edit Preferences - under the Comment Posting Preferences header - for Comment Expiration.

Set a number of days there, and tick the box for "Update all existing comments with this setting" (which should more accurately read "existing entries").

To be clear this won't close all comments, but remove the ability to comment on all entries which fit the criteria. (Your question uses the phrase "close comments" but I'm pretty sure you don't actually want to remove the old comments?)

Answer 2

Given that the control panel for comments (Add-ons > Modules > Comments) is a little limited in its date filtering, and if you have lots and lots of comments it would be a chore, a query is probably the best route.

A query that would close all comment entries before Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT:

UPDATE exp_comments
SET status = 'c'
WHERE comment_date < 1293840000

OR...If what you meant was to not allow new comments on entries older than two years then here is a query to do that (or just see @Derek's answer!):

UPDATE exp_channel_titles
SET allow_comments = 'n'
WHERE entry_date < 1293840000

You can use Epoch Converter to get a Unix timestamp for your comment cut-off date.