diff -Naur nodecomment/nodecomment.module nodecomment.new/nodecomment.module
--- nodecomment/nodecomment.module	2008-05-16 16:44:36.000000000 -0400
+++ nodecomment.new/nodecomment.module	2008-05-29 11:22:05.635708650 -0400
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@
 define('COMMENT_PREVIEW_REQUIRED', 1);
 
 /**
+ * Constants to define if comments should be rendered with the node
+ */
+define('COMMENT_NO_RENDER_WITH_NODE', 0);
+define('COMMENT_RENDER_WITH_NODE', 1);
+
+/**
  * Implementation of hook_help().
  */
 function nodecomment_help($section) {
@@ -171,6 +177,26 @@
     '#description' => t('The default node type to use for posting comments.'),
   );
 
+  $form['advanced_settings'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'fieldset',
+    '#title' => t('Advanced settings'),
+    '#description' => t('Advanced users only. Changing these settings will break commenting if you don\'t alter your theme.'),
+    '#collapsible' => TRUE,
+    '#collapsed' => TRUE,
+  );
+
+  $form['advanced_settings']['render_comments_with_node'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'radios',
+    '#title' => t('Render Comments'),
+    '#default_value' => variable_get('render_comments_with_node', COMMENT_RENDER_WITH_NODE),
+    '#options' => array(
+      COMMENT_RENDER_WITH_NODE => t('Render comments below node'),
+      COMMENT_NO_RENDER_WITH_NODE => t('Don\'t render comments below node')),
+    '#description' => t('The default behavior is to declare comment_render, which is called by node.module 
+      in node_show. If you want more control over how and where comments are displayed, disable the 
+      rendering of comments, and use the output of theme(\'nodecomments\') in your templates as you see fit.'),
+  );
+
 
   return system_settings_form($form);
 }
@@ -625,13 +651,14 @@
   return $links;
 }
 
-if (!function_exists('comment_render')) {
+if (!function_exists('comment_render') && 
+  variable_get('render_comments_with_node', COMMENT_RENDER_WITH_NODE)) {
   function comment_render($node, $cid = 0) {
-    return nodecomment_render($node, $cid);
+    return theme('nodecomments', $node, $cid);
   }
 }
 
-function nodecomment_render($node, $cid = 0) {
+function theme_nodecomments($node, $cid = 0) {
   global $user;
 
   if (user_access('access comments')) {