Concerning single.php when comment count reaches the set value and breaks remaining comments into new page(s). In my theme I have removed the post content when the page number exceeds 1. Guessing that's a good way to avoid duplicate content and most forums are set up like that anyway. Also it was pretty easy to remove the content with a simple PHP statement.
<?php global $cpage; if( $cpage <= 1 ) get_template_part( 'content', get_post_format() ); ?>
I just prefixed the statement that was already in place which started at get_temp... and it works like a charm.
Now if deemed necessary I would like to be able to load the missing content via ajax, my reasoning there is, people may need to refer to original post to base their comments on and pulling content into the page they're on would be more efficient than having to reload comment page 1.
I have read plenty of posts stating how easy it is to employ ajax in WordPress but it's not sinking in and I can't find any examples of someone ajaxing the post content into the single.php. Go Figure. Anyways I have gotten excactly this far...
elseif ( $cpage > 1){do something}; // to be appended to previous statement
I will keep nosing around but any pointers or out and out help from someone who can probably do this in their sleep would be greatly appreciated!