To mitigate the effects of all the pingbacks I’m generating as I go through my archives and update image links to the new host, I’ve implemented a widget on the sidebar to show the last 20 comments. The REAL comments were scrolling off the tabbed Recent Comments widget too quickly with all the pingbacks I was generating.
I’d turn off those pingbacks, but first, I’d never remember to do it every edit, and second, I figure this also has a utility function of advertising two of my older posts every time one is generated. That can’t be a bad thing, as far as I’m concerned. Now that I’ve got a whole new audience, I’m sure my older stuff is new to SOMEONE.
I don’t think anyone would be in the least bit upset if you kept the recent comments sidebar at 20 comments even after you finished working with the archives.