Are you tired of spending all of your time moderating comments?
You may want to go into your settings in WordPress to turn off comments.
Then, you can get some time back and keep from getting tons of spam or mean messages.
You’ll be able to keep your site content professional so that you can grow your business.
Read on to learn more about WordPress comments and how to get rid of them.
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Where Are Comments in WordPress?
You can find comments in your WordPress dashboard.
Click on “Comments” in the menu on the left side of the screen.
This will show you all of the comments, from those that are pending or published to spam comments.
It will show you the author of each comment, the text, what post or page the comment is on, and when the commenter submitted the message.
Below the author’s name, you can see how many comments of theirs you’ve approved.
You’ll also be able to tell how many comments are on a specific post.
If a comment is replying to another one, you can also see that information.
Website visitors can find the comment section at the bottom of a post or page.
They’ll be able to leave a comment with their name and email address.
If you haven’t enabled comments on a page, you may not see a comment box there.
Why Have Comments in WordPress
Before you decide to disable WordPress comments, consider how they can be useful.
You may choose to keep comments on certain posts or pages but not others.
Here are a couple of reasons why you may want to allow comments on your site.
Be Interactive With Readers
The best reason to let people comment on your posts is to interact with readers.
It can be much easier for someone to leave a comment on a post than to email you or find you on social media.
If someone has a question, they may ask about it under the specific article.
You’ll be able to respond to the comment with an answer, and other readers can see what you write.
That can help you build your expertise and get to know your website visitors.
Interacting with readers can also help increase their trust in you.
That may help you convert visitors into paying customers or clients.
Also, having comments open allows you to use an easy call to action, so you can ask a question to your readers and have them respond below.
Discussion
The comment section can also be a great place for readers to write back and forth.
You can participate in the conversation or not.
Either way, people will be able to discuss the content you post, and they can easily find people to comment with.
Maybe you publish a thought-provoking article about your niche.
People may have something to say, and a comment box is an excellent place for that.
Then, people won’t have to find one another on social media.
You can also keep the discussion public, so new users will see the existing comments before they add their thoughts.
Why Disable Comments in WordPress?
While there are good reasons not to disable comments, there are just as many reasons to do so.
If you want to keep your website free of drama or other issues, you may not want people to write comments.
Disabling comments is an option for a single page or post as well as your entire site.
That way, you can control the discussion or ask people to email you instead.
Here are a few more specific reasons for disabling your WordPress comments.
Spam Comments
Even if you have a new or small blog, you may get plenty of spam comments on a blog post.
You can use a comment to keep these comments from going live.
But you’ll still need to spend time on comment moderation.
If you have a ton of other things on your plate, it may not make sense to have comments.
As your blog grows, so can the amount of spam you receive.
There are plugins to help monitor spam comments, but you’ll still need to go in and delete them.
It can make perfect sense to turn off comments if all you get are comments from bots.
You can always direct people to your email or social media inboxes if they have questions.
Fights in the Comments
Maybe you don’t respond to comments much, but you get a lot of comments when you publish a WordPress post.
Depending on the topics you cover, people may have different opinions on the subject of your blog.
That can lead to people fighting with each other in the comments.
If that happens a lot, it can make your site look bad, especially if the comments become particularly rude.
You can’t control what people think. However, you can moderate the comments or even turn them off completely to avoid fights.
Then, you’ll be able to keep your site free of drama and similar problems that may affect your business.
Comments Are Not Appropriate for the Post
Another good reason to disable WordPress comments on one post is the content of the comments.
Maybe you publish a blog about dog food, but the comments are all about cats and cat toys.
You may want to turn off the comments on that particular article.
That way, you can keep the content on theme with your overall blog or the post in question.
If the problem only occurs on a few posts, you can turn comments off on those pages.
Otherwise, you may want to turn off commenting throughout your entire site.
Another sub-reason for not allowing comments is if they’re more specific.
You may have this happen if you have a health or finance blog.
People may have questions based on their situation, and you may not want to show those publicly.
How to Turn Off Comments in WordPress
Disabling comment sections on WordPress doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
If you realize that the comments are more trouble than they’re worth, you can turn them off.
Luckily, you have multiple options to choose from to control your WordPress site.
Think about your situation to decide if you want to remove comments on a single page or site-wide.
Then, you can take the correct steps to turn off the comments.
How to Disable Comments on Multiple Pages or Posts
If you want to disable the comments on more than one page, you can do so in a couple of ways.
The easiest option is to go into your posts and pages menus.
Click on “Posts” or “Pages” depending on what you want to edit.
You’ll need to find the posts or pages in question.
Hover over each post with your mouse until you see the option for a Quick Edit.
Click on that, and look for the checkbox next to “Allow Comments.”
Uncheck that box to disable comments on the post, and repeat for each article.
If you want to remove comments on a lot of posts, first use the checkbox next to the posts in the list.
You’ll need to do this in groups of 20, but it can save you time.
After you select the posts to edit, find the Bulk actions menu at the top.
Click on that and select Edit, then Apply to bring up a bulk edit menu.
Then, find the Comments option and select “Do not allow” to disable comments.
How to Disable Comments on a Single Post or Page
If you find one post or page has some nasty comments or you just don’t want people to start posting comments, you can disable it individually.
One option is to use the quick edit feature like you might for multiple posts or pages.
However, you can also go into the edit screen for the specific post or page.
Look at the menu on the right side of the screen and find the Discussion section.
Open that up, and select the checkbox next to Allow comments.
If the box is already unchecked, you won’t need to do this.
But you can use the edit feature to see if you’ve allowed comments on a page or not.
Be sure to save your changes before you exit the edit screen.
You can use these steps when writing a page or post.
This is particularly useful if you suspect a topic will lead to nasty comments or tons of spam.
However, you can always go back into the edit screen and turn off comments later.
How to Disable Comments Globally
You may decide not to have any comments on any part of your WordPress site.
In that case, you’ll want to install and activate a plugin called Disable Comments.
Then, you can go to your Settings menu on the left side of your dashboard.
You’ll be able to click on the button next to “Everywhere” to get rid of comments on all posts, pages, and media uploads.
Another option is to disable comments on all of your posts, pages, or media.
Using the same menu, scroll down a bit to find the section titled “On Specific Post Types.”
Look for the checkboxes next to Posts, Pages, and Media.
Select the boxes based on the type of content that you don’t want comments on.
Akismet and WP Bruiser are two other plugins to help with disabling comment options.
If you use Akismet, it can help with moderation, and it can filter out spam so that you don’t get an email every time you get a comment.
How to Disable WordPress Comments Without a Plugin
Another option is to disable your comments without a WordPress plugin.
To do this, you’ll want to go through all of your existing posts and pages and do the bulk edit to disable comments.
If you have a lot of pages, this can take a while, so give yourself time.
Disabling comments one by one is okay if you already want to edit posts.
Maybe you want to add new links, so you can edit the comment setting under the Discussion box.
Getting rid of the comment box without a plugin is much easier for newer websites without much content yet.
Once you remove existing comments and stop new ones, go to your Settings.
Click on Discussion, and you’ll see a list of settings.
Near the top, look for the checkbox next to “Allow people to submit comments on new posts.”
You can uncheck the box to keep people from commenting on future posts.
But it won’t affect your current content, so that can be nice if you want to leave the comments up.
How Can You Remove the Text That Says “Comments Are Closed?”
You may notice that your posts or pages show “Comments are closed.”
This can happen if there’s a problem with your theme, so you can contact the developer.
They should be able to update the theme and fix the issue.
Another option is to temporarily enable comments before disabling them again.
You can also look at your updates page to check for updates to your theme or specific plugins.
Keeping those things up to date is an excellent option for overall site security.
If you’re more tech-savvy, you can also try to fix the problem yourself.
You’ll need to log into your website hosting account to find the File Manager.
Look for your theme folder and the file “comments.php.”
Edit the file name to “comments_old.php” then create a new file with the “comments.php” name.
This will push an empty file to your site, so it shouldn’t show any comments.
Wrapping Up
The WordPress turn off comments settings work in a few ways.
You can disable comments on a single post or throughout the entire site.
Be sure to consider if you want to allow commenting on certain posts.
Then, you can adjust your WordPress settings so that you can have a discussion but also minimize spam or fights in the comments.
