Remove comments_open check from page.php?

Hi Anders

If I close comments on a page, not only is the comment form “removed” but also all the old visitor comments.

This is because page.php only calls the comments template if ( comments_open() ) .

Any chance of removing the comments_open check in a later theme release so when comments exist they are always displayed?

Genuine comments give the impression of a popular site, and can also be good for SEO. I guess most people would want any existing comments to continue to be displayed. If a site wants to remove comments they can do it via the dashboard anyway.