Remove Django comments functionality — spam magnet, Eric approved removal

[rdhyee]

Background

Per Eric's decision in the 2026-04-23 meeting with Raymond: Django's built-in comments functionality is no longer valuable — it's become a spam magnet generating low-signal traffic and occasional related maintenance burden. Remove it.

This is also related to the current Django 4.2 upgrade (#1123): django_comments has been a source of on_delete state-drift issues (see companion PR #1126). Removing it entirely is a cleaner simplification than continuing to carry the overlay-migration fixes.

Eric's guidance

• OK to leave comments functionality temporarily broken while removal is in progress — better to accept a broken endpoint than to trigger more error-email floods via partial removal.
• Remove, don't gate behind feature flag — we don't want it back.

Scope

• Remove django_contrib_comments (or whichever comments package is in use) from INSTALLED_APPS
• Remove Comment-related views, URLs, templates
• Remove django_comments migrations from the state-drift overlay (#1126) — no longer needed if the app is gone
• Data migration: decide whether to preserve historical comments (archive table) or drop them entirely (likely drop; low value, high spam content)
• Update templates that reference comment counts / comment forms

Coordination with other PRs

• After Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123 (Django 4.2) merges: removal is easier in the 4.2 codebase than retrofitting into 1.11
• Interacts with Overlay migration: fix django_comments on_delete state drift #1126: if comments are being removed, Overlay migration: fix django_comments on_delete state drift #1126's django_comments on_delete fix becomes irrelevant. Either merge Overlay migration: fix django_comments on_delete state drift #1126 first (unblocks Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123) then remove comments cleanly, OR fold the removal into Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123 itself. Coordinate with Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123's merge plan.

Related

• regluit#1123 — Django 4.2 upgrade
• regluit#1126 — django_comments on_delete overlay migration fix (may become obsolete)
• 2026-04-23 meeting with Eric

Out of scope

• User-visible messaging about comments going away — probably not needed (comments section has been unused / spam-heavy)
• Replacement commenting system — not wanted

[rdhyee]

Re-confirming sequencing per 2026-04-28 review:

• Overlay migration: fix django_comments on_delete state drift #1126 stays in flight as the prereq for Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123 (it's only 8 files of overlay migrations — trivial cost).
• Comments removal (this issue) is deferred until after Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123 lands. Reason: removal is cleaner on the Django 4.2 codebase than retrofitting the 1.11 codebase, and we're trying to keep Upgrade Django 1.11 → 4.2 LTS #1123's scope from growing.
• This issue stays open as the post-4.2 cleanup tracker.

If #1123's review window stretches significantly, we can revisit (i.e., remove comments first to obviate #1126), but that would add scope to the current unblock-test/dj42 work, which we're prioritizing.