diff --git a/backend/app/rest/api/admin_test.go b/backend/app/rest/api/admin_test.go
index 527314f142..d913f76e3f 100644
--- a/backend/app/rest/api/admin_test.go
+++ b/backend/app/rest/api/admin_test.go
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ func TestAdmin_ReadOnlyNoComments(t *testing.T) {
 	err = json.Unmarshal([]byte(res), &comments)
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	assert.Equal(t, 0, len(comments.Comments), "should have 0 comments")
-	assert.False(t, comments.Info.ReadOnly, "different from the plain format, should be fixed")
+	assert.True(t, comments.Info.ReadOnly)
 	t.Logf("%+v", comments)
 }
 
diff --git a/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public.go b/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public.go
index 4d7230afd2..41d9992b39 100644
--- a/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public.go
+++ b/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public.go
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ type pubStore interface {
 
 // GET /find?site=siteID&url=post-url&format=[tree|plain]&sort=[+/-time|+/-score|+/-controversy]&view=[user|all]&since=unix_ts_msec
 // find comments for given post. Returns in tree or plain formats, sorted
+//
+// When `url` parameter is not set (e.g. request is for site-wide comments), does not return deleted comments.
 func (s *public) findCommentsCtrl(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 	locator := store.Locator{SiteID: r.URL.Query().Get("site"), URL: r.URL.Query().Get("url")}
 	sort := r.URL.Query().Get("sort")
@@ -93,6 +95,18 @@ func (s *public) findCommentsCtrl(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 			if info, ee := s.dataService.Info(locator, s.readOnlyAge); ee == nil {
 				withInfo.Info = info
 			}
+			if !since.IsZero() { // if since is set, number of comments can be different from total in the DB
+				withInfo.Info.Count = 0
+				for _, c := range comments {
+					if !c.Deleted {
+						withInfo.Info.Count++
+					}
+				}
+			}
+			// post might be readonly without any comments, Info call will fail then and ReadOnly flag should be checked separately
+			if !withInfo.Info.ReadOnly && locator.URL != "" && s.dataService.IsReadOnly(locator) {
+				withInfo.Info.ReadOnly = true
+			}
 			b, e = encodeJSONWithHTML(withInfo)
 		}
 		return b, e
diff --git a/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public_test.go b/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public_test.go
index b7faddbf64..c3a796b25b 100644
--- a/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public_test.go
+++ b/backend/app/rest/api/rest_public_test.go
@@ -629,6 +629,10 @@ func TestPublic_FindCommentsCtrl_ConsistentCount(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	srv.Cache.Flush(cache.FlusherRequest{})
 
+	commentLocator.URL = "readonly-test"
+	// set post without comments to read-only
+	err = srv.DataService.SetReadOnly(commentLocator, true)
+
 	sinceTenSecondsAgo := strconv.FormatInt(time.Now().Add(-time.Second*10).UnixNano()/1000000, 10)
 	sinceTS := make([]string, 9)
 	formattedTS := make([]string, 9)
@@ -650,10 +654,10 @@ func TestPublic_FindCommentsCtrl_ConsistentCount(t *testing.T) {
 		{"url=test-url&since=" + sinceTenSecondsAgo, fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[7])},
 		{"since=" + sinceTS[0], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"count":7,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[8])},
 		{"url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[0], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[7])},
-		{"since=" + sinceTS[1], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"count":7,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[8])},
-		{"url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[1], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[7])},
-		{"since=" + sinceTS[4], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"count":7,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[8])},
-		{"url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[4], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[7])},
+		{"since=" + sinceTS[1], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"count":6,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[8])},
+		{"url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[1], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"url":"test-url","count":5,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[7])},
+		{"since=" + sinceTS[4], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"count":3,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[8])},
+		{"url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[4], fmt.Sprintf(`"info":{"url":"test-url","count":2,"first_time":%q,"last_time":%q}`, formattedTS[0], formattedTS[7])},
 		{"format=tree", `"info":{"url":"test-url","count":7`},
 		{"format=tree&url=test-url", `"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6`},
 		{"format=tree&sort=+time", `"info":{"url":"test-url","count":7`},
@@ -666,12 +670,15 @@ func TestPublic_FindCommentsCtrl_ConsistentCount(t *testing.T) {
 		{"sort=+score&url=test-url", fmt.Sprintf(`"score":10,"vote":0,"time":%q}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6`, formattedTS[2])},
 		{"sort=-score", fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-25,"vote":0,"time":%q}],"info":{"count":7`, formattedTS[8])},
 		{"sort=-score&url=test-url", fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-2,"vote":0,"controversy":1.5874010519681994,"time":%q}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6`, formattedTS[6])},
-		{"sort=-time&since=" + sinceTS[4], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-1,"vote":0,"controversy":2.924017738212866,"time":%q}],"info":{"count":7`, formattedTS[4])},
-		{"sort=-score&since=" + sinceTS[3], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-25,"vote":0,"time":%q}],"info":{"count":7`, formattedTS[8])},
-		{"sort=-score&url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[3], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-2,"vote":0,"controversy":1.5874010519681994,"time":%q}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6`, formattedTS[6])},
-		{"sort=+controversy&url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[5], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-2,"vote":0,"controversy":1.5874010519681994,"time":%q}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6`, formattedTS[6])},
+		{"sort=-time&since=" + sinceTS[4], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-1,"vote":0,"controversy":2.924017738212866,"time":%q}],"info":{"count":3`, formattedTS[4])},
+		{"sort=-score&since=" + sinceTS[3], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-25,"vote":0,"time":%q}],"info":{"count":4`, formattedTS[8])},
+		{"sort=-score&url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[3], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-2,"vote":0,"controversy":1.5874010519681994,"time":%q}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":3`, formattedTS[6])},
+		{"sort=+controversy&url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[5], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":-2,"vote":0,"controversy":1.5874010519681994,"time":%q}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":1`, formattedTS[6])},
 		// three comments of which last one deleted and doesn't have controversy so returned last
-		{"sort=-controversy&url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[5], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":0,"vote":0,"time":%q,"delete":true}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":6`, formattedTS[7])},
+		{"sort=-controversy&url=test-url&since=" + sinceTS[5], fmt.Sprintf(`"score":0,"vote":0,"time":%q,"delete":true}],"info":{"url":"test-url","count":1`, formattedTS[7])},
+		// test readonly status for the post without comments
+		{"url=readonly-test", `"info":{"count":0,"read_only":true`},
+		{"format=tree&url=readonly-test", `"info":{"count":0,"read_only":true`},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {