Comments, Reviews, Discussion
Path: AdminCP > Setup > Options > [MC] Downloads Manager.
The Comments, Reviews, and Discussion tabs configure the two discussion surfaces a download can carry: native comments and an auto-created forum thread. The two are independent — see comments and threads for the dual-surface model.
Comments tab
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Comments per page | 20 | Page size on the Comments tab. Range 5 to 100. |
| Latest comments on Overview | 5 | How many recent comments to show below the description on a download's Overview tab. Use 0 to hide the preview block. Maximum 20. |
| Maximum comment length | 0 | Per-comment character cap. Use 0 for no limit. Maximum 65535. |
| Maximum comment attachment size | 2048 KB | Per-attachment cap on comments. Use 0 to fall back to the global attachment size limit at AdminCP > Setup > Options > Messages. |
| Edit grace period | 0 min | Edits within this many minutes of posting are not recorded in the edit history. Use 0 to log every edit. Maximum 1440. |
| Soft-deleted comment retention | 30 days | How long soft-deleted comments are kept before the daily cron removes them. Range 1 to 365. |
Reviews tab
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Require download to rate | Off | When on, viewers may only rate a download once they have downloaded it at least once. |
| Recent reviews on Overview | 5 | How many recent reviews to show on a download's Overview tab. Use 0 to hide the preview block. Maximum 20. |
| Latest reviews cutoff | 90 days | Reviews older than this are excluded from the Latest reviews widget. Use 0 for no cutoff. |
| Reviews per page | 20 | Page size on the Reviews tab. Range 5 to 100. |
| Minimum review length | 0 | Use 0 to allow ratings without written text. |
| Maximum review length | 10000 | Use 0 for no limit. Maximum 65535. |
| Review voting | Up and down | How viewers can vote on review helpfulness. Options: Up and down, Upvote only, Off. Categories may override. |
| Bayesian rating minimum sample | 5 | How many ratings before a download's weighted score diverges from the global mean. Higher values keep newly rated downloads closer to the average. |
About the Bayesian rating
Each download exposes both a raw average and a Bayesian-weighted score. The weighted score uses the global mean rating as a starting point. Bayesian rating minimum sample sets how heavily the global mean weights against a new download's reviews: a download with this many ratings sits roughly halfway between its raw average and the global mean.
Discussion tab
These settings control the forum thread that can be auto-created when a download is published. Threads are off in every category by default. To turn them on, edit a category, set its Thread mode to "Optional" or "Required", and pick a forum. See comments and threads.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Default title format | {title} | Default title for auto-created threads. Categories may override. Tokens: {title}, {tag_line}, {category}, {author}, {url}, {version}. |
| Default message template | (default BBCode block) | Default BBCode for the first post of auto-created threads. Categories may override. Tokens: {title}, {tag_line}, {category}, {author}, {url}, {version}, {description}, {download_link}. |
| When a download is deleted | (see below) | What happens to the linked thread when its download is deleted. |
"When a download is deleted"
This setting has four sub-options:
| Sub-option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Action | Close thread | Pick "Close thread" to lock the thread, "Leave alone" to do nothing, or "Delete thread" to soft-delete it. |
| Update title | On | Whether to rewrite the thread title when closing. Only applies if the action is "Close thread". |
| Title template | {title} [Deleted] | New thread title when Update title is on. Tokens: {title} (the original thread title). |
| Add reply | On | Whether to post a system reply explaining that the download was deleted. Only applies if the action is "Close thread". |
Per-category overrides
Comment settings apply uniformly across all categories. Per-category overrides are available for:
- Review voting (set the category's review voting to "Inherit" to use the global default).
- Default title format and Default message template (set the category's value to override; leave blank to use the global default).