We recently overhauled the commenting features on our sites, giving them a modernized design interface and new interactive features to keep the discussion going amongst your readers.
Enable/Disable Comments for Entire Site
You can entirely disable comments on your site by unchecking the "Enable comments on this site" box in the Comments and Sharing section of the SNO Design Options Page. This will remove all references to comments on your site.
Enable/Disable Comments for Single Story
You can enable or disable comments for a single story. To do so, edit the story in question and click the Screen Options button tab at the top right corner of the page. Next place a checkmark next to "Discussion" and scroll all the way to the bottom of the page. You'll see a section labeled Discussion where you can enable or disable comments for that story.
Control Comment Moderation and Notification
To control the settings for approval of comments, click on Discussion under the Settings tab on your dashboard. By default, all new sites are set up with moderated comments.
Moderate/Manage Comments
To approve, edit, or delete comments, click on the Comments tab on the left side of your WordPress dashboard, and then click the links for each comment to Approve, mark as Spam, or Delete. By default, only Administrators and Editors have access to moderate comments. This can be changed by using a plugin called User Role Editor.
Comments Policy
It is good practice to have a comments policy in place before you launch your site. Some things you should consider as you draft a policy are whether or not you accept anonymous comments, whether or not you require a full name and valid email address from commentators.
Adding a Comments Policy
- To add a comments policy to your site, click on the SNO Design Options tab under the Appearance tab on the left navigation bar in the WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Comments and Sharing tab along the left hand side of the page.
- Add your policy to the appropriate box.
- Click Save All Settings. Your policy will now be displayed above the Comments box on all stories.
Sample Comments Policy
{insert publication name} intends for this area to be used to foster healthy, thought-provoking discussion. Comments are expected to adhere to our standards and to be respectful and constructive. As such, we do not permit the use of profanity, foul language, personal attacks, or the use of language that might be interpreted as libelous. Comments are reviewed and must be approved by a moderator to ensure that they meet these standards. {insert publication name} does not allow anonymous comments, and {insert publication name} requires a valid email address. The email address will not be displayed but will be used to confirm your comments.
Feel free to use the above comments policy.
Commenter Email Verification
When a reader writes a comment they will see a message informing them that they need to verify their email or the comment will be discarded. The commenter will then receive an email at the address they provide with a verification link.
On the dashboard you will see a new box in the comment notification area that will display whether the commenter has verified their email address, with a red message box informing users if the email is not verified, or a green message box if it is. You still have the option to approve a comment prior to the commenter verifying their email by selecting the comment, then selecting approve from the bulk actions drop down menu. You can also approve a comment by clicking the edit option that appears when you hover over an individual comment.
While we highly recommend using this new mechanism, you can disable it. To do so go under the SNO Dashboard drop down menu and select Design Options. From the SNO Design Options menu select “Comments and Sharing”. You can then select “Disable email verification mechanism on comments.” Make sure to click the “Save All Design Options” button once you select the option to disable the mechanism.