Helpful little article that explains how to use jQuery to create popups before sending an email or submitting a comment. ∞
Close Or Leave Comments Open On Old Posts?
As laid out by BloggingPro.com, the question is simple. Should you close comments on older blog posts? While their article goes into specific reasons as to why or why not, I’ve personally been a fan of closing comments on articles that are 180 days old. I think the bulk of the conversation that is going to take place on any particular post will be within 7 days of it being published. Therefor, I don’t feel the need to have the form open if the conversation is over with. Another major reason I opt to go this route is spam. Back when I used to write for other websites, I noticed that the majority of their spam comments were for articles buried deep within their archives. Every now and then, a legitimate comment would show up but that was the exception rather than the rule. As a site administrator, closed comments on older articles also provides an easier administrative role. Instead of wading through pages of comments caught within the Akismet queue to check for false positives, I normally have only a page or two at the most.
With that said, as a site administrator, how do you have your comments configured and why did you chose that configuration?
IntenseDebate Phasing Out Blogger Widget Installation
Blogger will soon contain redirects to country-code URLs or ccTLD’s for all Blogger sites except for custom domains. For example, if you’re in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected to [blogname].blogspot.com.au. A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader’s current location. This causes an issue with IntenseDebate through the Blogger widget installation as different sets of comments will display depending on which ccTLD readers visit. They are strongly recommending that you move from the Blogger Widget installation to their Template installation which already addresses the necessary changes. Pay special attention to their instructions when making the move so you don’t lose any of your existing comments.
Akismet 2.5.4 Adds Easy Link Removal Button
Earlier this morning, I discovered that while moderating comments, a small little X icon appeared that I’ve never seen before. After inquiring on Twitter why WordPress never gave me a new feature pointer to explain to me what this feature was, I was told that it came with the newest version of Akismet. On January 5th, 2011 Akismet released version 2.5.4 of their plugin and amongst the changes was the addition of a button that allows site administrators to easily remove the commenter URL. This particular feature is something I’ve become used to using as it’s part of the Ajax Edit Comments plugin. I think it’s pretty slick that this feature is now available despite it not actually being in core. In fact, if you didn’t know any better or forgot that you recently upgraded Akismet, you might think that it was added with WordPress 3.3.1 like I did.
I use this feature quite a bit because even though a comment may come across as spam, it appears relevant enough to the post that I publish it without the benefit of the commenter URL. Some folks don’t like this behaviour and would prefer that either the comment is deleted or published in its entirety. Are you one of those people?
WP Ajax Edit Comments To Be Free Again
One of my favorite WordPress plugins of all time WP Ajax Edit Comments, will soon be free again for all to use. According to a recent email sent out by iThemes, as of January 1st, 2012 they will no longer be supporting Ajax Edit Comments as a premium plugin. Instead, the full version will be uploaded to the WordPress.org plugin repository where users will be able to continue using the plugin with free updates. For iThemes customers that have recently purchased the plugin, they’ll have two options. The first is to request a full refund. The second is to receive a six month upgrade to the PluginBuddy Developer Suite which is valued at $100.00.
This is yet another twist for this particular plugin. Over the past few years, it’s gone from a small, free plugin to having a site built specifically for it with paying customers, managed by Ronald Huereca. Soon after, Ajay D’ Souza stepped in as co-developer of the plugin. Then, Ronald joined the team at iThemes which placed Ajax Edit Comments behind their pay wall. Coming back full circle, it will be available again for free.
Limiting The Amount Of Text In Comments
Eric Teubert over at WPEngineer has shared some Javascipt code that can be used to limit the amount of text that users can place within the comments field or any text field for that matter. Could be used to combat those comment spammers that like to post a bazillion words but the negative side is that lengthy, legitimate commentators will need to be cut short. ∞
Feature Filled Comment Administration
Comment administration within WordPress has come a long way. As illustrated by Lorelle VanFossen, the comment administration panel these days has 18 different features for comment management. While the current iteration of comment management features are great, there is one particular quick link that I hope gets added in a future version of WordPress. It’s called ‘De-Link‘ and it’s one of my favorite features of the WP Ajax Edit comments plugin.
Delinking Feature Within WP Ajax Edit Comments
I’ve noticed that a large amount of comments that I have deleted or trashed in the past can now be approved after I de-link them as the content is usually related to the post. It’s their way of trying to get a link on the site. I have my own rules for which sites are allowed to be linked to and which are not but if the comment is relevant to the post at hand but contains a bad link, I’ll simply de-link, then approve it. Sure, I could go into the Quick Edit mode within the comment management area and manually remove the links but the method of clicking once sure seems a lot easier to me then clicking the mouse button a few times.
Akismet Testing Out Partner Program
Akismet has started an experimental partner program. Based on the information presented, it looks like this is aimed more at consultants who deal with clients and instead of possibly using their own Akismet API key, they’ll now be able to refer them to Akismet via a special link which indicates the three plans that users can choose from. What caught my eye regarding the different account levels is how they have been structured.
Pro ($59/yr or $5/mo)
For individual sites, up to 80,000 comments/mo.
Enterprise ($550/yr or $50/mo)
For multiple medium size sites, up to 80,000 comments/mo (total).
Corporate ($3950/yr or $395/mo)
For corporate sites, up to 300,000 comments/mo with key monitoring, priority service and annual invoicing.
What constitutes a comment? Are we talking about all comments in general that need to be filtered or 80,000 legitimate comments? A little clarity on that part would be good. Those who are chosen to be part of this strictly invitational program only, will receive $24.00 for Pro subscriptions while Enterprise subscriptions will net them $240.00. I’m very hesitant on calling this a referral program because of the following text presented on the page:
This partner program is intended for use with your existing clients. Linking to your referrer code on the internet, or in any way promoting it to people that aren’t your customers is prohibited, and will result in your being removed from the program. The plan here is to have less spam, not more!
If you’re interested in being a guinea pig for this program, you can sign up here but keep in mind that just because you register doesn’t guarantee you will be accepted. By the way, WPCandy was able to receive 25 openings which may help boost your chances of being accepted.
By far, the most interesting aspect of this entire partner plan is the fact that the links people receive will contain ONLY the plans for which users must pay for. I wonder if this will translate into more paying customers for the service or if users will shy away and either use an alternative anti-spam solution or figure out how to get by using it for free. The only way we’ll know the answer to that is if Akismet shares the data they collected during the beta portion of the program.
Styling Your Comment Form And Layout
By Jeffro on May 14, 2013
WPBeginner.com has a great tutorial on how to style the WordPress comment form as well as the layout of the comments. Most of the changes are simple CSS edits but determining where those CSS attributes are located can sometimes be harder than making the edits. Their guide shows you how to add buttons to the Edit, Cancel, and Reply links using only CSS properties.
Speaking of styling comments, how many of you remember a service called CommentBits? CommentBits was an entire business built around the styling of comments in 2009 by Ryan Imel. In an interview I conducted with him, my thought was at the time that he would be able to create a nice niche for himself within a big market. However, things stagnated very quickly with a lack of new designs released. Even though the purchase link still appears to work, I’d be hesitant of purchasing anything through the site. I wonder though if something like CommentBits would be successful in today’s WordPress theme market?
Posted in WordPress | Tagged comments, service, Themes | 4 Responses