If you use a blog or a WordPress website, providing comment section to your readers is a great option to enable them to talk with each other and assist them in building an entire community centered on your WordPress site. Also, you receive the feedback from your readers on your content, appreciating your fantastic writing or asking queries.
However, as soon as your site starts getting more comments and becomes successful, the task of managing these comments can get quite daunting.
The common issues that come with large volume of comments is the increased number of spam comments, receiving feedback and suggestions so regularly that it becomes hard to take out time for work, reading and replying to comments almost all the time, and finding that your site’s user interface is no more responding for you as well as for your readers!
But then, there is still good news for you. There are a variety of plugins out there that can help you in proper management of comments on your WordPress site, along with an improved commenting process for the users. The features of these plugins can be tagged under four main headings, even though some of these can do a lot more than just providing these four benefits.
- Preventing spam comments
- Allowing readers to comment with the help of third-party services
- Helping the user in responding and managing comments
- Improving the user’s comment interface
So, if you are wondering what else these plugins have to offer and which one to go with, let us discuss the top 9 plugins which are famous for their useful comment management features, particularly on a WordPress site.
best plugin for comment management
1. Akismet Anti-Spam
Akismet can be referred to as the most popular of all other comment plugins. This is because the plugin comes as built-in or pre-installed with WordPress, and helps in filtering out spam comments without letting you lift a finger. The plugin can be activated with the help of an API key that can be obtained from the plugin’s official website, Akismet. Just add this to your settings and proceed.
However, if your blog or website is personal and does not make money, you can get an API key through a primary and free Akismet account. But in the case of running a more commercial website, or let’s say if you receive more than 50,000 comments every month, you might need to sign up for a premium account. Hence, you have two options, either to sign up an Akismet account or use your current wordpress.com account (if you already have one).
Once done, activate the plugin and sit back and relax. The plugin will be dealing with all of your comments, including spam comments, as you work, sleep, party, or do any other regular activity other than handling spammers manually.
2. Disqus Comments System
If you want some more options for your users and go beyond than just having a built-in commenting system for WordPress, you may go with Disqus Comments System. The plugin provides additional opportunities to enable interactions and remain updated about comments. Disqus is one of the most significant web’s dedicated systems of comment management. Moreover, with this plugin, you can easily replace the standard criticisms of WordPress with Disqus commenting.
The most significant advantage of using Disqus is that people who are already a member of Disqus or hold a Disqus account do not need to make a statement on your website but can use the same account to comment on your website’s content. The plugin also provides the readers an option for email, RSS, notifications and also handles spam for you.
However, the downside of this plugin is that maybe your readers won’t prefer making an account on a third-party service, to interact on your website. The plugin also sometimes conflict with some great frameworks and themes, but then you can always get a fix for all of these minor issues.
3.Comments Plus
his plugin makes commenting much more flexible and more comfortable for readers. If you have this plugin installed, your readers may say after signing in their Twitter, Facebook, Google + or maybe their standard comments interface of WordPress. If they use their accounts to comment on your content, it will also be displayed on other social network platforms, which will increase your site’s reach and encourage many new readers to check their comments along with your content.
As you install this plugin, you will have to enter the credentials that you use for social networks, and you may use various add-ons or customization options available to enable more features.
Until now, the plugin has been most recognized for its excellent feature of displaying the comments of readers on their social feeds, which helps your content to get promoted, reach out to new followers, and increases your website traffic.
4. WP Ajax Edit Comments
If you want to enable your readers to delete or edit the posted comment, then you must go with WP Ajax Edit Comments. A lot of times readers post a remark or comment which they either regret or immediately want to retract or edit. This is particularly common on websites which inspire debate and are engaging.
There might be a reader who would make a remark and then regret being so impulsive or forceful in hitting the ‘Post’ button, wishing to edit the comment. So, if you use this particular plugin, then your reader can quickly delete or edit the comment.
However, it allows the readers a limited period to edit the comment once it is posted on your site. Similarly, being the site administrator, you also get an option to moderate or delete a comment from the front end of the website, without the hassle of switching to the admin screen of WordPress.
5. Subscribe to Comments Reloaded
Sometimes, you don’t want your readers to use social media plugin or use a third party system of commenting but rather, provide the readers with an easy option to subscribe to comment. Hence, if you use the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin, you offer your readers a natural choice of accepting to replies and comments.
Users can subscribe to both of the comments, i.e., their comment or maybe the comment posted on the post by someone else. But for this, they will have to sign in to your WordPress, as the system requires an email address to process this. However, if you feel concerned about increased spamming, then you may easily state double opt-in, in which the reader will have to complete the subscription process by clicking the link provided in the email sent by the system to the reader.
6. Comment Images
Something that most of us like to do is to add images to our comments or replies on Facebook. It is fun to add these images to make a point or add visual appeal to your conversation. But when it’s about WordPress, it does not let users add pictures to their comments as default settings.
However, you may add this feature for your users by integrating Comment Images by Tom McFarlin. The plugin allows users to add images to their comments. Also, it only allows and accepts common file types, adjusts the images to fit in your layout of comments, and helps the user to see, in the WordPress admin, the attached pictures to every comment.
The plugin also helps you by adding the uploaded images to the Media Library. So, the next time you need a copy for your website or content, you can use this tool to access all the uploaded pictures of your readers.
7. Better WordPress Recent Comments
If you have the default widget of ‘Recent Comment,’ you can improve it using Better WordPress Recent Comments. The plugin offers an alternative widget to display the most recent comments and with many configurable options for pingbacks and trackbacks, smilies, avatars, AJAX, and others.
It also helps in customizing the what’s output, entirely by the widget, and by creating your template regarding comment output. You may add or remove content, including links, reorder elements and add some custom text, etc. You may also edit the template as the grouped comments, for instance, all the comments on one post.
However, if comments are an integral part of your WordPress content and there is a lot of user engagement, this can provide you a lot more control in the way these are displayed, enabling you to engage with content readers quite effectively.
8. Comments Control
Sometimes, when users start posting comments quite frequently and without a break, WordPress usually cause an error message which asks them to post their comments after some time. While this is good to control spam messages, this can also be a nuisance if you wish to generate real-time and lively discussion among your site’s readers.
The Comments Control plugin helps readers to comment instantly and frequently without having any need to slow down, unlike WordPress. This is one of the most convenient and reliable features to include in your website, primarily if your website offers real-time and quick conversation in the comment section, or even if you use comments considering a collaboration site, this feature is highly useful to save time.
However, if you want to block some commentators from posting replies in immediate succession, you may prevent the IP addresses of these users or edit the settings of the plugin. With that, they can still leave a comment, but if they do it frequently, they will be asked to slow down.
9. Comment Indexer
In the case, you use WordPress Multisite and manage a network of sites or blogs having an active user community across the WordPress site, (more like edublogs or WordPress.com), you will notice that every reader is replying or making a comment across your entire network in multiple locations.
The plugin is designed to be compatible with other WordPress plugins so that it can easily be used to archive, index, display or search comments across the entire network.
For instance, you may use it with:
- Recent Comment Feed – Global Author, to list down all the comments of a specific author
- Recent Comments Feed – Global, to show all the comments in one place, across the network, maybe in a particular site or core site
- Current Comments Widget, to display recent comments by placing a widget, from all of your network sites and in any of your website, in any widget and across your network
So, if you are creating a site owners’ or bloggers’ community, showing the comments on the main website will help in educating potential readers about what’s happening across the network and to tell them the advantages of joining. However, for old users, showing network comments on your site will make them engaged in a much broader conversation.
Summary
For a WordPress site, comments are an integral part to ensure communication and web traffic. If you have a website, that requires your audience or readers to engage with the website content, comments are one of the most fantastic ways to let them leave their feedbacks, interact with each other, make suggestions or maybe to interact with you.
Therefore, make the most of the above-listed plugins. Choose the one that best meets your website’s needs and dynamics. These plugins will help you in building a highly active and engaged community of honest and loyal readers for your WordPress site!
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