I found a solution that was different and wanted to share. When my file was converting all comments and changes to "author", I saw that there was a privacy setting checked to "Remove personal information from file properties on save".

File -> Options. A dialog box "Word Options" will open. Select the "Trust Center" pane and then "Trust Center Settings". This will open a new dialog box called "Trust Center".

In this box, select the "Privacy Options" pane. In the Document-specific settings section, you'll see the "Remove personal information from properties on save" box. This was checked for me and was causing the "Author" change on save. Unchecked fixed my issue immediately.

-J