Comment Experience
Comments are a core part of many WordPress websites. They help build community and spark engagement. But once the comments start coming in, they can quickly become harder to manage. The free Comment Experience plugin is an easy-to-understand plugin that helps you manage the comments on your site.
What Comment Experience does
Comments are everywhere in WordPress. The Comment Experience plugin makes comment management easier. It adds many improvements to the core of WordPress comments, making it more manageable.
Cleaner comment notification emails
The default comment notification emails can be cluttered and hard to scan. Comment Experience gives you clean notifications, so you can easily read the comment and act on it.
Create and enforce a comment policy
Comment experience allows you to create a comment policy page. The policy tells commenters which type of comments are welcome on your site and which are not. When enabled, commenters must accept your comment policy before they can comment. This helps you set expectations and keep discussions on track.
Forward comments to your team
Comment Experience gives you the option to forward comments to an email address and then trash the comment. You could, for example, forward support-related comments to your support team and then trash the comment.
Control comment length
Comment Experience allows you to set a minimum and maximum character count for comments. If a comment is too short or too long, the commenter will get an error message stating that the comment is too short or too long. This helps keep your comment section balanced.
Thank you page for first-time commenters
Comment Experience allows you to create a “thank you” page for first-time commenters. After posting their first comment on your site, they’ll be redirected to the page, where you can thank them and guide them further on your site.
Edit comment parent ID
Every comment in WordPress has an ID. A parent ID tells WordPress if the comment is a reply to another comment or if it should stand on its own. Sometimes replies end up in the wrong place, which can make a thread confusing. Comment Experience gives you an input field on the comment edit screen where you can change the parent ID. This lets you re-thread conversations so replies appear under the right comment.
Email commenters directly
Sometimes you need to follow up with a commenter. Comment Experience adds a link in the admin comments screen that lets you email an individual commenter.
Email all commenters on a post
Comment Experience allows you to email all the commenters on a post at once. It adds a button in the WordPress toolbar, and by clicking on it, you can email them all. For example, when you’ve updated the post they commented on.
Comment routing options
With Comment Experience, you can add a comment routing option so comment emails are sent to the correct user. The plugin adds a dropdown in each post’s discussion settings, where you can choose which user should receive the comment notification emails for that post. This means that you can send comments on a blog post directly to the author of the post.
Does every site need Comment Experience?
WordPress was originally built as a blog system, so comments have always been a core component. Many sites still use comments to spark discussions, answer questions, or build community.
Not every site needs them, though. If your site doesn’t need comments, it may be better to install Comment-free Zone. Comment-free Zone completely removes comments from your site, so you’ll never have to worry about them again.
If your site relies on interaction with readers, then Comment Experience is a great fit. It helps you keep conversations organized and manageable.
How do I install Comment Experience?
Through your site’s backend
You can install Comment Experience directly through your site’s backend:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New.
- Search for “Comment Experience”.
- Click Install Now.
- Activate the plugin.
- Configure your settings in the Comment Experience screen under Settings.
Manually
You can install Comment Experience manually:
- Download and unzip the plugin.
- Upload the comment-hacks directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
- Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
- Configure your settings on the Comment Experience screen under Settings.
- Activate the plugin.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, Comment Experience is completely free to use. You can download it from the WordPress plugin directory and start using all its features right away.
If you allow comments on your site, we recommend creating a comment policy. It sets the rules up front. A comment policy helps users understand what kind of comments are encouraged and reduces confusion and conflicts.
A good comment policy could look like this:
“We welcome and encourage comments on our posts. To keep discussions constructive and respectful, please follow these guidelines:
– Contribute value: Keep your comments on topic and related to the content of the post. Comments that do not add to the conversation, run off on unrelated tangents, or disrupt the discussion may be edited, moved, or deleted. Spam comments will also be removed.
– Be respectful: Avoid offensive language, personal attacks, or harassment. Any comments containing such content will be deleted.
– Hold harmless: All comments are the responsibility of the commenter, not our editorial staff. By submitting a comment, you agree that the content is your own and that you will hold [Business Name] and its representatives harmless from any repercussions, damages, or liability.
Comments that do not comply with this policy may be edited or deleted at our discretion. Repeated violations may result in being blocked from commenting.”
When you create your own policy, include everything that is not allowed, with a short explanation. Clear rules reduce confusion and make moderation easier for you and fairer for your commenters.
A good-length comment depends on your site. We recommend a minimum of 15 characters to avoid useless one-word comments and a maximum of 1500 characters to prevent rants.
Ready to get started?
Download Comment Experience today and take the first step toward a cleaner, better-optimized site!