Usage guide & tutorial to learn how to use, configure and edit the WordPress discussion settings, control, and moderate website comments.
WordPress Discussion Settings
The WordPress Discussion Settings Screen allows you to set the options concerning comments (also called discussion). It is here the administrator decides if comments are allowed if pingbacks and trackbacks are acceptable, and what constitutes Comment Spam.
On this Screen, you also control the circumstances under which your blog sends you e-mail notifications of events at your site. Usage guide & tutorial to learn how to use, configure and edit the WordPress discussion settings, control, and moderate website comments.
WordPress Discussion Settings
Default article setting
These settings may be overridden for individual articles.
- Attempt to notify any blogs linked to the article – If you check this box, WordPress will send a ping to a site or writing you have linked to in your post. Your mention of their location or article will show up in the comment section of their site if that site allows pingbacks. The notification occurs during the process of publishing your report on the Internet. An article with many hyperlinks will slow the posting process, as WordPress contacts all sites before the post is published.
- Allow link notifications from other blogs (pingbacks and trackbacks) – Check this box so WordPress accepts or declines the pings from other sites which may reference your site. Or an article on your site. In addition, If this box is checked, pingbacks and trackbacks will appear in the comments section of your posts.
- Allow people to post comments on new articles – Check this box if you wish to allow comments to your posts. Remember that this can be overridden for individual articles. Comments can also be controlled by making an article PRIVATE, which requires the appropriate password before a word is allowed. If you don’t wish to allow comments uncheck this setting.
Other comment settings
- Comment authors must fill out their name and e-mail – Check this box to force spammers to do some extra work. In reality, the name and e-mail address are not verified in any way before the comment is submitted. Most legitimate commenters are willing to fill out a name and e-mail address.
- Users must be registered and logged in to comment – If this checkbox is checked, only registered users can write comments on your site.
- Automatically close comments on articles older than [X] days – Check the box and enter the number of days (e.g., 14 days), after which WordPress will automatically flag eligible posts so that no more comments are accepted.
- Enable threaded (nested) comments [X] levels deep – Check this box to enable threaded comments, then from the drop-down box, select the number of levels deep (maximum of 10 levels) you will allow for nested comments. Note that themes need to be specially coded to display threaded comments correctly.
- Break comments into pages with [X] top-level comments per page and the [last/first] page displayed by default. Comments should be displayed with the [older/newer] comments at the top of each page – Check this box to cause comments to say in a paginated format with the specified number of comments per page. In addition, identify if the pages should be ordered “first to last” or “last to first”, and within each page, whether the oldest or newest comment is to be displayed first.
Email me whenever
These two settings give you control of when authors and administrators receive notification that comments have been made or that comments are held for moderation. Please note that “me” refers to either a post author or the administrator (a person whose email address is used for admin purposes).
- Anyone posts a comment – Check this box so that every comment posted will generate an email to the author of that post. Be warned that authors may find a full email Inbox if your posts receive many words. If you wish to micromanage comments, then by all means, activate this setting by checking the box.
- A comment is held for moderation – Check this box if you want WordPress to notify you that a statement is being held for moderation. The email notification is sent to the E-mail address listed in the Administration > Settings > General Screen. This is useful if your blog has multiple authors; each can allow or decline comments. That way, you, the site owner, can review what words are allowed or denied.
Before the comment appears
These settings give you more control over when and how comments are posted.
- An administrator must always approve the comment – Select this option to force words to be authorized by a blog user or owner having the proper Role to approve comments, even if the comments appear to be spam. See the Comment Moderation options below regarding spam.
- The comment author must have a previously approved comment – Check the box to ensure comments are only posted if the comment author’s email address matches the address of a previously approved comment. Otherwise, the word is held for moderation. Comments from blacklisted email addresses (listed in the Local Spam Words Text Box) are held for moderation regardless of whitelist status.
WordPress Discussion Settings – Moderation
In the Comment Moderation section, you specify these options to help you deal with Comment Spam.
- Hold a comment in the queue if it contains [X] or more links (A common characteristic of comment spam is many hyperlinks.) – Not long ago, comment spammers would have five, ten, or more hyperlinks in their comment spam. This made it easy for bloggers to screen comments quickly, but spammers recognized that and commonly used only one or two hyperlinks. You can enter a number in this box to tell WordPress how many links you allow in a comment before holding it for moderation.
- A comment containing these words in its content, name, URL, e-mail, or IP will be held in the moderation queue. One word or IP per line. It will match inside words, so “press” will fit “WordPress” – In this text box, you can add your spam words, filtering the comments when posted. For an extensive and updated list of frequently used spam words and phrases, click the link to the article on Spam Words; consider adding these to your list.
Comment Blacklist
- When a comment contains any of these words in its content. Name. URL. E-mail. or IP. It will be spam. One word or IP per line. It will match inside words, so “press” will match “WordPress”. This text box acts the same as “When a comment contains any of these words…” except comments which match these words will be deleted without warning. You may want to use this as a last resort, as genuine comments can end up deleted (WordPress 1.5 and later)
WordPress Discount Settings – Avatars
An avatar is an image that follows you from weblog to weblog, appearing beside your name. When you comment on avatar-enabled sites.
Here you can enable the display of avatars for people who comment on your blog. By default, WordPress uses Gravatars — short for Globally Recognized Avatars — for the pictures that appear next to comments. Plugins may override this.
Avatar display
- Don’t show Avatars – Check this radio button to suppress the avatar display in the comments.
- Show Avatars – Check this so comment author avatars appear along with the comments.
Maximum Rating
This setting controls (or limits) the ‘highest’ level or rating of gravatar you allow on display. Keep reading this usage guide & tutorial to learn how to use, configure and edit the WordPress discussion settings, control and moderate website comments.
- G — Suitable for all audiences
- PG — Possibly offensive, usually for audiences 13 and above
- R — Intended for adult audiences above 17
- X — Even more mature than above
Default Avatar: How Configure WordPress Discussion?
For users without a custom avatar of their own. You can display a generic or generated logo based on their e-mail address.
- Mystery Man
- Blank
- Gravatar Logo
- Identical (Generated)
- Wavatar (Generated)
- MonsterID (Generated)
- Retro (Generated)
Final Words About WordPress Discussion Settings
Click the Save Changes button to ensure any changes you have made to saved it the database. Once you click the button, a confirmation text box will appear at the top of the page. As a result, all done.
Video Tutorial
WordPress Discussion Settings by Visualmodo. Usage guide & tutorial to learn how to use, configure and edit the WordPress discussion settings, control, and moderate website comments.