Hi Mary, and thanks for the response.
I doubt I can replicate the issue because it was my first time using it, and I tweaked as I went--never expecting the tweaks to prevent comments from showing.
I'll try to do a sandbox assignment and see if it shows me any way to improve the documentation for other tweakers like me. Requiring "submit," for example, is not a detail that caught my attention in the documentation as being important.
I will add that the same issue I was having with Rubrics happened with Marking Guide: every time I saved marks on the guide, I got an error code > redirect to My Home and had to click through to the assignment--where I found the marks on the guide had saved.
A round-up of the advantages and disadvantages (including user-friendliness and reliability) of each of the Assignment assessment and feedback options might be a useful post for noobs like me.
Anyway, on my to-do list, though time is tight right now, so here's hoping....