Trash Comment

Trash Comment extends the Trash module to support soft-deletion of comments.

When a comment is trashed, it is not removed from the thread. Instead, it remains in place as a placeholder displaying "This comment has been deleted." — preserving the visual thread structure and keeping reply chains intact. This mirrors the behavior users know from platforms like YouTube, Reddit, or GitHub.

Features

• Soft-delete for comments — Trashed comments are hidden from regular display but remain in the database and can be restored at any time.
• Thread-preserving placeholders — Deleted comments stay in position, showing a neutral placeholder message so that nested replies remain visually connected.
• Trash admin integration — Comment bundles appear in the Trash module's settings form, allowing granular control over which comment types support soft-deletion.
• Access control — Trashed comments cannot be edited or deleted through the UI, preventing accidental modifications.
• Trash context support — Administrators with the "view deleted entities" permission can view original comment content via the Trash overview.
• No custom database tables — Works entirely through Drupal's entity API and Trash module hooks, keeping the architecture lean and maintainable.

Requirements

• Trash (^3.0)
• Comment (Drupal core)

How it works

The module replaces the default comment storage to include trashed comments in thread queries (via TrashManager::executeInTrashContext()). At render time, trashed comments are shown as anonymous placeholders through hook_preprocess_comment. No custom entities, database tables, or templates are needed.