How to enable threaded comments on a WordPress blog
A couple of days ago I published a post about the benefits of having a pre and post publication checklist for your blog. The post quickly received a couple of legitimate comments so I approved and replied to them. The next time I looked at the post I noticed my replies did not sit directly underneath the comment I replied to (in a nested style). Instead, my comments appeared in the normal flow of the comments section at positions three and four. This makes it hard for the reader to know who I am replying to and for conversations to start and continue.
Threaded comments (aka nested comments) has been a feature of WordPress since the release of Version 2.7 in December 2008. Prior to this release, threaded comments could only be created using a plugin.
However, it is not enabled by default. It needs activating.
And I had forgotten to do that on this blog, which, incidentally, has only been around for a few months. It started life on another domain, but I later decided to move it here as this domain is more relevant to the subject matter.
This is how you enable threaded comments
Threaded comments is very easy to activate. This is what you do - Settings > Discussion > Other comment settings and tick the box next to Enable threaded (nested) comments 5 levels deep. You can change the amount of levels if you wish.
That should do the trick. If it doesn’t, and you use a newer version of WordPress, the problem is more than likely with your theme, and you may require a plugin to make threaded comments work. Kimberley Castleberry goes into the methodology for doing this on here blog, Just Ask Kim.
The main benefit of threaded comments is that they allow you and your readers to interact in a much more conversational way. They also encourage your readers to interact with each other by being able to comment on each others comments. You (the blog owner) can reply to specific comments, and so can your readers. If you would like to see a perfect example of threaded conversations in action take a look at this. (And I make no apologies for linking to Pat Flynn’s blog in two successive posts, it is fast becoming one of my favourite blogs.)
One of those basic things that most people might overlook. Good job pointing it out and showing how simple it really is to enable threaded comments on a WP blog.
I was lucky my theme had them activated by default.
I think it should be enabled by default, with the option to switch if off. I noticed the problem when I checked my reply to your previous comment, so I have to say thank you for that.
Most blogs doesn’t really pay attention to this part of wp blogging, and I do think it’s also important in a way that it makes the comment section well organized.
It’s quite easy to be activated, when I first tried using wordpress few months ago, I found this one instantly on the settings, though I did not bother to activate, knowing that I’m not really expecting that much of attention and interaction on my personal blog.
By the way, cool post Stephen. the topic is very unique, since it’s the first of its kind that I was able to read.
Regards,
Jason
Thanks Jason,
I think a lot of people, when they first install WordPress, just get on with blogging without giving the settings a second thought. I remember being the complete opposite!