View source for Blogs - Comments

== Links ==
=== What is a Comment? ===
In WordPress your visitors have the option to leave comments on your site. This feature creates a dynamic interchange between you and the blogs readers.
Comments can be left only on posts and are a handy way for people to leave thier opinions on your postings. A comment has to be approved by a moderator before it can appear for viewing.


=== Creating a Comment ===

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Creating comments is a simple process. First navigate to the post that you wish to comment on, then fill in the required information in the boxes underneath the post and click the submit button, as shown below. The comment will then be marked for review by the moderator and will appear when its contents have been checked and approved.

[[Image:CreateComment.PNG]]

When you click the submit button you can see your comment that you have posted, although it will not be visible on the site until it has been approved, s shown below.

[[Image:CommentAwaitModeration.PNG]]


=== Modertating Comments ===

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Before a comment can be viewed it has to br approved by a moderator. The moderator should check the the comment for apporpriate content and change it if necessary. To moderate a comment first login to the blog dashboard, as documented here [[Logging_Into_Your_Blog | here]]

If there is a comment or multiple comments awaiting moderation the dashboard will list how many comments are awaiting moderation.

[[Image:CommentAwaitModerationDashboard.PNG]]


When you click the comment link you will be taken to the Manage Comments section. From here you can select the comment(s) that require moderation, as shown below. 


Now two options exist:

<b><u>Approve Unedited</u></b>

To apporove the comment without moderation simply click the tick box beside the comment and hit the approve button above the comment or the approve link to the right of the comment, as shown below.

[[Image:CommentApproveUnedited.PNG]]


<b><u>Edit & Approve</u></b>

To edit the comment and, if necessary, change the contents of the comment click the person name who left the comment, as shown below.

[[Image:CommentModerate.PNG]]


This will open the comment editing form. From here you can change the contents of the comment and select its published status.

[[Image:CommentModerateEdit.PNG]]

When you have finished making any nessesary chaanges to the comment you have you need to decide a few things.

<ul>
<li> Whether to approve, moderate or or mark the comment as spam.
<li> Whether to approve the comment immediately or at a specific time and date.
</ul>

These things are decided and selected from the menu on the right hand side of the page, as shown below.

<table>
<th>Approval Status</th><th>Approve Immedialty / Later</th>
  <tr>
    <td valign="top">[[Image:CommentApproval.PNG|Publishing Options]]</td>
    <td valign="top">[[Image:CommentApprovalDelay.PNG|Publishing Options]]</td>
</table>

<u>Publish Status:</u>
To publish the comment immediately simply drop the Approval Status box down to 'Approved', as shown above, and click the save button. The comment will immediately appear on the ppost the comment was made about. 

You could also put it to 'Moderated' and click that save button. The comment would be saved but not displayed on the assosiated post.

Finally you could set it to 'Spam' which will not publish the comment and will delete it from the site.


<u>Approve Immediately:</u>
If you click the edit button the Approval box will expand and allow you to specify the time and date that you wish the comment to be approved on, as shown above. 

This allows you schedule when specific comments will appear on your blogs main page.

If / when the comment is finally approved it will show up on the assosisated post page, as shown below.

[[Image:CommentApproved.PNG|Comment On Post]]

=== Deleteing Comment ===

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Deleting a comment is a very simple process. When you delete a comment it is removed from the assosiated post main page and permanantly deleted.

To delete a comment you must go to the Comment management page. To do this click the 'Comments' tab on the top menu, as highlighted below.

[[Image:CommentHeader.PNG|Comment Management]]



Then simply select the comment(s) that you wish to delete and hit the delete button, as highlighted below. The comment{s} will then be removed from the blog completly.

[[Image:DeleteComment.PNG|Delete A Comment]]