Locating Comment Settings
- To permit comments on your blog, from the main menu select Preferences then Comment.
- The Comment Settings screen will allow you to determine if comments are allowed and under what conditions.
Allowing Comments
At the top of the Comment Setting screen, there is checkbox by the option titled “If enabled, comments will be accepted.” To allow readers of your blog to make comments, make sure there is a check in the box to enable comments. Accepting comments is the default for new blogs.
By unchecking the box next to the option “If enabled, comments will be accepted,” no reader can make comments on your blog, and the rest of the options on the screen are not displayed.
Commenting Policy
The next section, titled Commenting Policy, is where you can configure the preferences for comment moderation, permitted HTML tags, and e-mail notification. Details of these comment preferences are outlined below.
Moderated Comments
The section of the Comment Policy titled Immediately Approve Comments is used to determine if incoming comments are to be queued for moderation, or published immediately under specified conditions.
- Immediately Approve Comments: This setting is used to control the publishing of incoming comments based on the commenter’s status. Trusted Commenter is the default setting.
- No one – Select this option, and all comments from any reader will be automatically queued to await approval before they are published.
- Trusted commenter’s only – Selecting this option allows comments to be published immediately only by readers you have assigned the Trusted Commenter role. Posting comments is the only action this role is permitted to do.
- Any authenticated commenter – Any authenticated reader (IUP student and employees) will have their comments posted immediately.
- Anyone – Use this option to permit any reader’s comments to be posted right away. Remember, using this comment policy lets anyone in the world post comments to your blog immediately. These types of comments can contain unsuitable material, so use this option with care.
- E-mail Notification: This option will cause an e-mail message to be sent to you when a comment is received. By selecting the option “Only when attention is required”, the e-mail will only be sent when a moderated comment needs approval before being published.
Releasing Moderated Comments
From the main menu, select Manage, then Comments. The Manage Comment screen is displayed.
- Next, select the box next to the comment to be published. The yellow triangle indicates it is an unpublished comment.
- Select the button titled Publish, below the black bar. The yellow triangle will change to a green circle with a check mark when the comment is successfully published.
You can also edit or reply to the selected comment, if you so desire. You can view the published comment in your blog by selecting the View Site icon in the main menu.
Anonymous Comments
There are different commenter authentication methods, such as anonymous comments, that can be used on your blog entries. You first have to select the feature from the Registration Settings screen in the Preferences menu. The steps are as follows:
- From the main menu select Preferences, then Registration.
- In the section titled Authentication Methods, make sure the box next to the title Anonymous Comments is selected. Anonymous Comments is selected by default.
- When checked, this feature enables unauthenticated users (non-IUP employees or students) to comment on your blog entries. If you do not want unauthenticated users to comment on your blog entries, then leave this box unchecked.
- If you select the box next to the title Require E-Mail Addresses for Anonymous Comments, any anonymous commenter must provide their e-mail address in order to submit their comment.
- Finally click on the “Save Changes” button to commit your selections.
