To remove the "Discuss" link  that shows up under each Document, edit
FolderItemsPart.xsl in the /Portal/resources directory (it's hidden by
default, so configure your browser to show hidden items) and find the
following lines:

]]></xsl:eval>
<A id="id_discussThisItem"><xsl:attribute
name="href">/msoffice/commfrms.asp?url=<xsl:eval>canonicalizeForUrlParameter
(g_strActualBaseDocUrl);</xsl:eval></xsl:attribute><xsl:value-of
select="/dav:multistatus/Strings/String[@_locID='L_ResultListActionDiscussLa
bel_TEXT']"/></A> | <A id="id_subscribeToThisItem"><xsl:attribute
name="href"><xsl:value-of

You want to remove the <A id="id_discussThisItem" tag -- meaning delete
everything between the <A and the </A>, INCLUDING the tags themselves. On
the edit  File tool  version, this starts on line 300. On the version that
comes with SPPS SP1, it's line 289.

The result should look like:

]]<>/xsl:eval>
<A id="id_subscribeToThisItem"><xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of

and it works like a charm!

btw, does anyone even *use* discussions in Sharepoint Portal Server? It
just seems like a waste of time and never seems to work right. I understand
Team Services has better discussion forums and capabilities, but I've never
used TS -- we're straight 100% Portal Server.

I expose an Exchange PF with a default conversation form to a web  part.
Works great (and less filling).

Can you remove the "Discuss" attribute specifically for just a
certain folder  as opposed to all the folders?

You'd have to write that in the XSL yourself, or get someone who knows it
well enough to do it for you. That I cannot do.