In this lesson we talk about moderating comments and show you how to do it. Comments allow your fans and followers to interact with you and with each other and provides a sense of community.
And in the spirit of full disclosure, comments also open you up to getting a lot of spam, but we'll show you a couple tricks to keep them low.
Step 1) Click the back button to return to the admin pages.
You may have to click the back button several times. If that doesn't work, enter the admin address in your browser.
Step 2) Click on the Settings option in the right-hand menu.
This brings up the settings page you used to set the title of your site earlier.
Step 3) Click on the Discussion suboption under Settings in the right-hand menu.
This page shows you all the settings for comments on your site. You can read through these options. Most of them are fine just the way they are, but we will change one.
Step 4) Check the box next to "An administrator must always approve the comment.
This means that when a person comes to your site and leaves a comment, you will get an email. Their comment will not show up on your site until you approve it. Of course, you can also reject it. Then it will never appear on your site.
Why is this important? Spam. As your site becomes bigger and gets more visitors this setting may get to be too much work. If that happens there are more sophisticated solutions to help you manage the spam, but for now, this setting will be fine.
Step 5) Scroll down and click the Save Changes button.
Great. Now, let's move on to how you approve or reject comments.
Step 6) Click on the Comments option in the left-hand menu.
On this page you will see a list of your comments. WordPress has generated one comment for you. It doesn't say much, so let's get rid of it.
Step 7) Float your mouse over the comment in the list.
When your mouse is over the comment you will see several options appear. Let's talk about these.
Unapprove - This will prevent the comment from displaying to your visitors, but you will still be able to see it in the list when you come to this page.
Approve - If a comment hasn't been approved yet, this option will appear. Approving a comment allows visitors to see it on your website.
Reply - This allows you to post a follow-up comment to this one. This is a very good habit to get into. It allows your visitors to interact with you and starts to build a community and a true discussion.
Quick Edit - Choosing this will bring up the comment so you can edit it. This is handy if someone has mispelled your name or the release date of your book. Try not to use this too much, people don't usually like their words edited without their consent.
Edit - Brings up the comment in a more powerful edit mode.
Spam - This will mark the comment as Spam and removes it from your list. Wordpress will use this information to flag future comments as potential spam for you.
Trash - Removes the comment from the site and from this list.
Step 8) Click Unapprove.
This removes the comment from your site, but still keeps it in your list. Notice that there is now an option to Approve the comment and the comment background color has changed.
Step 9) Trash the comment.
You decide you really don't want the comment around. It really isn't that useful for your visitors and it's only stated purpose in lfe is to be deleted, so let's fulfull its desire.
Notice, you have one last chance to save a comment. There is an Undo link to click if you've made a mistake. You didn't, so you're good.
Congratulations!
You can now follow and manage the comments on your site! See, that wasn't so bad now was it?