diff --git a/app/models/comment.rb b/app/models/comment.rb
index 3771af84a..47beb5050 100644
--- a/app/models/comment.rb
+++ b/app/models/comment.rb
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def self.body_max_length
-    1000
+    Setting['comments_body_max_length'].to_i 
   end
 
   def calculate_confidence_score
diff --git a/db/dev_seeds.rb b/db/dev_seeds.rb
index f36ed5b36..14af135da 100644
--- a/db/dev_seeds.rb
+++ b/db/dev_seeds.rb
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ Setting.create(key: 'feature.twitter_login', value: "true")
 Setting.create(key: 'feature.facebook_login', value: "true")
 Setting.create(key: 'feature.google_login', value: "true")
 
+Setting.create(key: 'comments_body_max_length', value: '1000')
+
 puts "Creating Geozones"
 ('A'..'Z').each{ |i| Geozone.create(name: "District #{i}") }
 
diff --git a/db/seeds.rb b/db/seeds.rb
index fb4f26b8b..55bd65e22 100644
--- a/db/seeds.rb
+++ b/db/seeds.rb
@@ -57,3 +57,6 @@ Setting['feature.twitter_login'] = true
 Setting['feature.facebook_login'] = true
 Setting['feature.google_login'] = true
 Setting['feature.public_stats'] = true
+
+# Max length for comments
+Setting['comments_body_max_length'] = 1000