This is a common function on most forums - being able to read through all the comments by a user. I can't seem to find how to do it here, maybe I am missing something?

Click on recent posts link under profile name in thread.  

Or google "dharmaoverground: [user] or [keyword].

Thanks, but I should have been more clear - "recent posts" is just a list of the threads that the user has commented in - you still have to scan through each individual thread to find each comment. What I am hoping to find is all of the comments in one place. Google isn't really a good solution for this.

The reason I am asking is because each user tends to offer quite different perspectives and I sometimes find myself wanting to skim read a user's comments to build a picture of their way of thinking about enlightenment.

That doesn't exist.  But the wiki should have a "best of" for long time, high quality contributing DhO users.  So if you want to compile that let me know & I will add it to the wiki.

OK thanks, I thought as much.

Re: long time high quality users - you'd probably have a much better idea than me! I just occassionally do frenzied dives in the archives and someone will jump out as providing an interesting different way of looking at something.

Follow-up question: is there any way to increase the default number of posts per page? Would really help improve the frenzy-experience.

Good tip, thanks!

It is possible that newer versions of Liferay have that feature, but our last upgrade to Liferay sucked so badly and was such a time-sucking pain in the nether regions that we retreated back to this version and haven't attempted it since. So, for the nonce, this version will have to do. Apologies for the functionality, as it is what it is. Still, Liferay, for all its quirks and failings, still allows a low of features and security that other platforms don't.

Understandable, thanks. It is still a great resource!