where on earth can I edit the comments section of my blog?

I see you've inherited an Artisteer Template (headaches aplenty).

It looks like it's either using cForms to handle the comments, or CK Editor. I've never heard of using CK editor for comments, but that is what the source is pointing to :

        var ckeditorSettings = { 
          "textarea_id": "comment", 

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But then I see that their using cForms which would be the more logical solution.

I believe you need to edit this template file to make adjustments, or ditch it and go with a plugin:

wp-comments-post.php

which plugin?

I use Fast Secure Contact Form on sites that don't need a lot of customization to their forms. If the site requires a lot of custom options involving forms I use CForms.

Fast Secure CF is quick and easy to set up, I'd pick it unless you find it's limitations:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/si-contact-form/

What about csforms - it seems to have some settings there to use instead of the comment form? Maybe I should try that? Have you tried it before?

This is getting ridiculous
I just tried using cforms so I replaced the entire <form> code with the cform code and still the freakin form I don't want is being displayed.

It doesn't seem to matter what I add in the comments.php file - this is just a joke...see my comments.php file here


And you can see the comments form is still showing, but it isn't my csform?!!

<?php


if (!empty($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']) && 'comments.php' == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']))

	die ('Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!');



if (post_password_required()) { 

	theme_post_wrapper(array('content' => '<p class="nocomments">' . __('This post is password protected. Enter the password to view any comments.', THEME_NS) . '</p>'));

	return;

}



if (have_comments()){

	ob_start();

	printf( _n( 'One Response to %2$s', '%1$s Responses to %2$s', get_comments_number(), THEME_NS ), number_format_i18n( get_comments_number() ), '<em>' . get_the_title() . '</em>' );

	theme_post_wrapper(array('content'=>'<h4 id="comments">' .ob_get_clean() . '</h4>'));

	$prev_link = get_previous_comments_link(__('Newer Comments <span class="meta-nav">&rarr;</span>', THEME_NS));

	$next_link =  get_next_comments_link(__('<span class="meta-nav">&larr;</span> Older Comments', THEME_NS));

	theme_page_navigation(array('prev_link' => $prev_link, 'next_link' => $next_link));

	echo '<ul id="comments-list">';

	wp_list_comments('type=all&callback=theme_comment');

	echo '</ul>';

	theme_page_navigation(array('prev_link' => $prev_link, 'next_link' => $next_link));

} elseif('open' != $post->comment_status && !is_page()) { 

	theme_post_wrapper(array('content' => '<p class="nocomments">' . __('Comments are closed.', THEME_NS) .'</p>'));

}

if (function_exists('comment_form')){


	ob_start();

	$args = array();

	if(theme_get_option('theme_comment_use_smilies'))

	{

		function theme_comment_form_field_comment($form_field){

			theme_include_lib('smiley.php');

			return  theme_get_smilies_js() . '<p class="smilies">' . theme_get_smilies() . '</p>' . $form_field;

		}

		add_filter('comment_form_field_comment', 'theme_comment_form_field_comment');

	}

	comment_form();

	theme_post_wrapper(array('content' => str_replace(array(' id="respond"', 'type="submit"'), array('', 'class="art-button2" type="submit"'), ob_get_clean()), 'id' => 'respond'));

	return;

}



if ('open' == $post->comment_status) {

	ob_start();

?>

<h3 id="comments-title"><?php comment_form_title( __('Leave a Reply', THEME_NS), __('Leave a Reply to %s', THEME_NS) ); ?></h3>

<div class="cancel-comment-reply"><small><?php cancel_comment_reply_link(); ?></small></div>

<?php if ( get_option('comment_registration') && !$user_ID ) : ?>

<p><?php printf(__('You must be <a href="%s">logged in</a> to post a comment.', THEME_NS), get_option('siteurl') . '/wp-login.php?redirect_to=' . urlencode(get_permalink())); ?></p>

<?php else : ?>

<?php insert_cform('2'); ?>
<?php endif;?>

<?php 

	theme_post_wrapper(array('content' => ob_get_clean(), 'id' => 'respond'));

}

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What do are you trying to do? Customize the appearance or the content?

both appearance and content

I could help you style the current form, but I don't think I'd be much help with the comment form. It's really overkill for a comment form. You could either deal with what you have, or drop the whole current contact form (the one you posted above. With either of the contact forms listed above the comment form isn't needed. They provide the ability to add custom labels input etc.. for the form so no need for that one.

I think the whole issue here is stupid freakin Artisteer.
Trust me I have tried to edit the existing form and have wasted HOURS trying to do so, so I want to use a different form I can edit, but the stupid system won't even let me use a different form - it is driving me NUTS

if you could look I would be greatful I cannot seem to find where to replace it?

>> I think the whole issue here is stupid freakin Artisteer

Yep.  After the last few weeks of helping people with strange Artisteer issues, I'm ready to for that software to go away now :)

SO AM I - its terrible

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