I downloaded a copy of 2.8 to my local PC. Logged into CPanel, opened file manager and did a copy and paste/replace job of the wp-comments-post.php file. I was then able to upgrade via the WP admin panel auto-upgrade function. Guess the upgrade process checked to see if the latest update date of the wp-comments-post.php was more recent than the auto-upgrade version and, seeing that it was updated on 6-22 the auto-update function didn’t even attempt to upload the WP 2.8 version, which I believe has the wp-comments-post.php file dated in May 2009.
Hope that all makes sense. I, too, am always groping around in the dark when it comes to mucking with code, servers, etc.
