WordPress:Comments Comments SubPanel

Comments → Comments

In this Comments SubPanel you can modify or delete content found in comments to your posts. Defining rules about who can write comments and how comments are moderated is done elsewhere. See the Discussion Options SubPanel.

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Table of Comments

By default, the Table of Comments displays the twenty most recent comments. At the bottom of the SubPanel is a button to "View the Next 20 Comments". Instead of cycling through all of your comments in groups of twenty, however, you can search for the set of comments you're looking for. Enter text into the "Show Comments That Contain..." text box and click the "Search" button to display all matching comments. The search function searches through all comments' text, author name, author email, author URI, and author IP address. Clearing the "Show Comments That Contain..." text box and then clicking the "Search" button will reset the display and show all comments.

The Table of Comments can be set to display in one of two different modes: [[WordPress:#View Mode|View Mode]] (the default) and [[WordPress:#Mass Edit Mode|Mass Edit Mode]]. These are detailed in separately below, however, both modes show the name, email address, URI, IP number of the poster, as well as the date and time the post was created.

View Mode

The default View Mode shows the full text of the comment and offers links to Edit' or Delete the comment, and to Edit or View the post to which the comment refers. Clicking the Delete Comment link shows a warning asking you to confirm the comments deletion. As always deletion can never be undone.

Comments which have been marked for Moderation (see the WordPress:Awaiting Moderation SubPanel) are also displayed but are shown in light gray text.

Mass Edit Mode

Mass Edit Mode allows you to preform mass deletion of posts. If you want to delete several posts at once, you can check those posts' checkboxes and then click the "Delete Checked Comments" button at the bottom of the Table of Comments. This mode is most useful when you are searching for comments from a particular author (e.g. a spammer) or for comments containing certain words or key phrases. See below for an [[WordPress:#Mass Edit Example|example]].

In Mass Edit Mode, the Table of Comments displays the following columns for each comment:

* - The Checkbox for that comment.
Name - The name given by the author of the comment.
E-mail - The e-mail address given by the author of the comment.
IP - The IP address of the computer from which the author sent the comment.
Comment Excerpt - The first twenty words from the comment text.
Actions
- View - Views the entire comment as
- Edit - Allows you to edit the information in the comment.

Below the Table of Comments are two useful items:

Invert Checkbox Selection - This link will check any unchecked comments and uncheck and checked comments.
Delete Checked Comments - Clicking this button deletes all of the comments whose checkboxes have been checked. There is no undelete feature.

Note: In Mass Edit Mode, comments which have been marked for WordPress:Comment Moderation (see also the WordPress:Awaiting Moderation SubPanel) are also displayed, and no distinction is made between normal comments and comments awating moderation.

Mass Edit Example

Suppose you have been flooded with comments from a certain individual and wish to delete all of them in one fell swoop. The following steps will eliminate all of those unwanted comments.

Type the author's name into the "Show Comments That Contain..." text box and click the "Search" button.
Click on the "Invert Checkbox Selection" checkbox at the bottom of the screen.
Click on the "Delete Checked Comments" button. This cannot be undone. Make sure no comments have been checked coincidentally; perhaps a valid comment was made that mentions the spamming author's name!