About Discussion settings in WordPress You control how comments work on your website. You can determine whether visitors are allowed to comment, when comments are approved, how WordPress handles links in comments, and whether avatars are displayed.
The right settings depend on how you use your website. For a blog, comments can be a useful part of the site. On a traditional business website, on the other hand, comments are often not needed at all. In this case, you should actively disable them instead of simply leaving the WordPress default settings unchanged.
Recommendation: First, decide whether you want comments on your website at all. If you do not need a comment feature, you should disable it. If you run a blog with comments, moderation and effective spam protection are particularly important.
Where do you find the discussion settings? #
First, log in to the WordPress admin area. You can usually reach this at:
your-domain.ch/wp-admin/
Then open in the left menu:
Settings > Discussion
On this page you will find the main settings for comments, notifications, moderation, and avatars.
If you are currently setting up WordPress, you should also general WordPress settings, the Writing settings and the Reading settings check.
Default post settings #
In the first section of the discussion settings, you will find several options that influence the behavior of posts and comments. These include, in particular, notifications about linked websites as well as the general permission to comment on new posts.
Attempting to notify all blogs linked in a post #
WordPress can attempt to notify other websites when you link to them in a post. This process originates from traditional blog communication and is related to so-called Pingbacks and trackbacks together.
For many modern WordPress websites, this function is no longer necessary today. It can generate additional requests and offers hardly any practical advantage for a typical business website.
If you don't deliberately use pingbacks and trackbacks, you can usually leave this feature disabled.
Allow link notifications from other blogs #
With this setting, you allow other websites to use so-called Pingbacks and trackbacks to send to your posts.
Simply put, another website can inform WordPress that it has linked to one of your posts. WordPress can then treat this notification similar to a comment.
That sounds practical at first, but today it is used meaningfully much less often than in the past. In addition, pingbacks and trackbacks can be abused for spam.
Recommendation: If you don't use pingbacks and trackbacks specifically, you can usually disable incoming link notifications. For most corporate websites, there is no compelling reason to enable this feature.
Allow visitors to comment on new posts #
This setting determines whether comments on newly published posts are generally permitted.
If you run a blog and want to enable discussions with your readers, you can activate this option.
If, on the other hand, you run a corporate website and do not need a public comment function, you can disable it.
Important: This setting establishes the default for new posts. Existing posts can have their own comment settings and thus continue to allow or disable comments.
Allow or disable comments separately for individual posts #
WordPress allows you to additionally control the comment function for individual posts. This allows you, for example, to generally allow comments but disable them for specific posts.
To change the setting of an existing post, open the corresponding post in the WordPress editor. In the post settings, depending on the WordPress version and editor, you will find a section for Discussion, in which comments for this post can be enabled or disabled.
We show you how to generally create and manage posts in our guide Create new blog posts in WordPress.
More comment settings #
In the area for further comment settings, you can define more precisely who is allowed to comment and how WordPress displays comments.
Comment author must provide name and email address #
When this option is enabled, visitors must provide a name and email address when commenting.
While this doesn't prevent comment spam, it at least raises the barrier compared to completely anonymous comments.
If you allow comments on your website, this setting is useful in many cases.
Privacy Notice: If you process personal data such as names, email addresses, or IP addresses in connection with comments, you should take this into account in your privacy configuration and privacy policy. Which legal requirements apply to your website depends on your specific area of operation and the applicable data protection regulations.
Users must be registered and logged in to comment #
With this setting, only registered and logged-in WordPress users are allowed to leave comments.
For a public blog, this is often a relatively severe restriction because visitors would first need a user account. This can significantly reduce the number of legitimate comments.
For closed websites, member areas, or communities, however, the setting can be useful.
Automatically close comments on older posts #
WordPress can automatically close the comment function after a certain number of days.
For example, you could specify that posts after:
30 days
or:
90 days
can no longer be commented on.
This can help websites with many older posts to reduce moderation effort and comment spam on old content.
For timeless advice articles, on the other hand, it can make sense to leave comments open longer, provided you actually moderate them.
Opt-in checkbox for comment cookies #
WordPress can offer commenters to save their name, email address, and website in cookies. This way, they do not have to re-enter this information for a later comment.
The corresponding checkbox is displayed in the comment form and leaves it up to the visitor to decide whether this information should be saved for future comments.
Enable nested comments #
With nested comments, visitors can reply directly to an existing comment. WordPress displays these replies indented beneath the original comment.
This creates traceable discussion threads, which can be particularly helpful for posts with many comments.
WordPress allows for the definition of a maximum nesting depth. However, a very high number of levels can quickly become confusing.
For a normal blog, a few levels are usually sufficient.
Split comments across multiple pages #
For posts with a very large number of comments, WordPress can split the comments across multiple pages.
You can specify how many comments are displayed per page and whether the first or last comment page should be opened by default.
For websites with few comments, this feature is usually not particularly relevant. For high-traffic blogs or communities, it can improve clarity.
Order of comments #
WordPress can display older or newer comments at the top. Which order makes more sense depends on the nature of your discussions.
In classical discussions, a chronological order is often easier to follow. In very long comment sections, on the other hand, a different sorting method may be useful.
Email notifications for comments #
WordPress can notify the administrator about new comments via email.
Under Send me an email when you will find corresponding options.
For example, WordPress can notify you when:
- someone writes a comment,
- a comment is awaiting approval.
If you actively use comments, such notifications are helpful so that new comments and potential spam posts do not go unnoticed for long.
For WordPress to send such messages reliably, your website's email sending must be working correctly. For business websites, we recommend sending via SMTP. We explain how to set this up in our guide Reliably send WordPress emails via SMTP.
Before a comment appears #
This area is particularly important if you allow public comments. Here you determine whether comments are published immediately or need to be reviewed first.
Comment must be approved manually #
When you enable this option, a new comment will not be displayed publicly right away. An administrator or authorized user must approve it first.
For smaller blogs and corporate websites with a comment section, this is a very secure default setting. You can check for spam, insults, or unwanted advertising before they appear on your website.
Recommendation: If your website only receives occasional comments, manual approval is often the cleanest solution. This allows you to decide yourself which comments become publicly visible.
Author must have already written an approved comment #
WordPress can automatically approve known commenters if a comment from the same person has already been approved previously.
This reduces the moderation effort for regular and trustworthy visitors.
This setting is especially interesting for active blogs. If you want to moderate every single comment, you should use manual comment approval instead.
Comment moderation #
WordPress provides additional rules that can automatically move suspicious comments to the moderation queue.
One option is to withhold comments based on the number of links they contain. Spam comments often contain multiple links to direct visitors or search engines to other websites.
WordPress can hold a comment for moderation as soon as it contains a certain number of links.
Additionally, you can store terms, names, email addresses, URLs, IP addresses, or other characteristics that, when they appear, cause a comment to be moderated first.
Note: Use moderation rules wisely. Terms that are too general can lead to completely legitimate comments being unnecessarily withheld.
Disallowed comment keys #
In addition to the moderation queue, WordPress offers a stricter filter for unwanted comments.
If a comment contains specific terms, sender information, or other characteristics you have stored, WordPress can process it directly accordingly instead of simply submitting it for normal moderation.
This feature can be useful for recurring spam. However, you should be careful with very short or general terms, as they can also appear in legitimate comments.
Comment spam is its own issue #
The integrated discussion settings help with moderation, but for a publicly accessible website with a high volume of comments, they do not necessarily replace specialized spam protection.
Automated bots can bombard comment forms and submit spam. Therefore, an additional anti-spam mechanism can be useful when the comment function is active.
Which solution is suitable depends on your website, the volume of comments, and your data protection requirements.
Warning: Do not indiscriminately install multiple anti-spam plugins at the same time. Multiple solutions for the same tasks can cause unnecessary complexity and interfere with each other. Choose one suitable solution specifically and configure it properly.
Avatars in WordPress #
At the bottom of the discussion settings, you will find the settings for Avatars. An avatar is a small profile picture that can be displayed next to a comment, for example.
WordPress supports the service by default Gravatar. This allows a corresponding profile picture to be loaded based on a commenter's email address.
You can specify in the discussion settings whether avatars should be displayed at all.
Avatar display #
If Show avatars is enabled, WordPress can display profile pictures for comments and in other corresponding places.
If you do not need avatars or want to avoid external avatar requests, you can disable the display.
Set default avatar #
For users without their own avatar image, WordPress can display a default image. Depending on the WordPress version, different variants are available.
Which variant you use is primarily a design decision and has no significant impact on the comment function itself.
Comply with data protection regarding Gravatar #
If your website uses Gravatar, data may be transferred to an external service when loading avatar images. This should not be ignored, especially for websites with requirements under Swiss data protection law or the GDPR.
Whether and how Gravatar should be used on your website depends on your specific configuration and the legal requirements applicable to you.
If you do not need avatars, disabling the avatar display is the technically easiest way to avoid corresponding Gravatar requests by the WordPress comment function.
Recommended settings for a corporate website without comments #
If you run a classic corporate website and do not need comments, the configuration is relatively simple.
As a starting point, we recommend:
- Comments for new posts: disable
- Pingbacks and Trackbacks: disable
- Comment notifications: not required if comments are completely disabled
- Avatars: disable when not in use
Additionally, check already existing posts and pages in case comments were individually activated there.
Recommended settings for a blog with comments #
If you want to use comments consciously as a component of your blog, a sensible basic configuration would look like this, for example:
- Comments for new posts: activated
- Name and email address required: activated
- Pingbacks and Trackbacks: normally deactivated
- Manual release: activated for manageable comment volume
- Email on new comment: activated
- Moderation rules: configure sensibly
- Spam protection: add if necessary
- Avatars: as needed and in compliance with data protection regulations
This is not a universal configuration for every website. However, it forms a solid starting point for a normal WordPress blog.
Comments are still possible despite being disabled #
When you comment under Settings > Discussion you have deactivated, but they are still displayed on older posts, this is not necessarily an error.
The global setting primarily establishes the default for new posts. Existing content can still be individually configured to allow comments.
In this case, open the relevant post and check its discussion settings.
For many existing posts, you can also change settings via the post overview and the WordPress bulk editing feature. How to manage existing posts is explained in Edit and delete blog posts in WordPress.
Why don't I see a comment box on my website? #
If comments are enabled, but no comment form appears on the website, there can be various reasons for this.
Check in particular:
- whether comments are allowed globally,
- whether comments are individually enabled for the post in question,
- whether comments were closed automatically due to their age,
- whether your theme outputs a comment form in the template being used,
- whether a plugin modifies or disables the comment function.
Especially in the case of custom-created templates or page builders, the appearance can also depend on the template being used.
Save changes #
After making the desired settings, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save changes.
If you use comments, you should then open an existing post and check whether the comment form and moderation are working as desired.
For a website without comments, a quick check of an existing post is also recommended. This lets you see if individual comment approvals might still be active there.
What should you configure next? #
According to the discussion settings, you can with the Media settings in WordPress Continue. There, among other things, you define which standard image sizes WordPress generates when uploading images.
Then you should Permalinks Settings control. Especially for a new website, a clean URL structure is important and should be determined as early as possible.
Conclusion #
WordPress discussion settings determine far more than just whether visitors are allowed to leave comments. Here you also control moderation, notifications, pingbacks and trackbacks, comment rules, and the display of avatars.
For a classic corporate website without an active community, it often makes sense to completely disable comments as well as pingbacks and trackbacks. If, on the other hand, you run a blog with a comment function, you should moderate comments carefully and deal with spam protection and data privacy.
Therefore, do not simply adopt all WordPress default settings. Configure the comment feature to match the actual purpose of your website.
Recommendation: If comments have no concrete benefit for your website, disable them. If, on the other hand, you want to deliberately encourage discussions, set up moderation and spam protection properly from the start, rather than reacting only after your comment section is filled with spam.
