Comments

Comments are a WordPress feature that Verba draws. WordPress decides whether a post accepts them; the theme decides whether the block appears and what it looks like.

#Turn comments on

Three switches have to agree before a comment form appears, and they sit in different places. This is the usual reason comments are missing from a post.

#Collapse them behind a toggle

On an article with a long discussion, the comments push everything below them a long way down. Collapse comments in the same Customizer tab hides them behind a "View comments" control, so the reader opens the thread only if they want it.

The count stays visible either way, which is what most readers are looking for.

#Comment voting

Comment voting adds an up and down control to each comment, and is switched on in Theme OptionsSingle PostFooter. Votes are stored per reader, so one person cannot vote twice from the same browser.

This is a Pro feature. Without the Pro plugin the comments render normally, with no voting controls.

#The check mark next to a name

Verba puts a small check mark after the author name on comments left by the post author and by site administrators. Hovering it says which one it is: "Post author" or "Site administrator".

It exists so a reader can tell an answer from the person who wrote the article apart from an answer from anybody else, in a thread where every name looks equally official.

#Pingbacks and trackbacks

These are automatic notices posted when another site links to your article. Verba renders them in a separate list under the human comments, with a smaller avatar, so a machine notice never reads as somebody's reply.

If you would rather not have them, uncheck Allow link notifications from other blogs in SettingsDiscussion.

#Keeping spam out

Comment spam is a WordPress problem rather than a theme problem, and the settings that matter are all in SettingsDiscussion:

• Comment must be manually approved stops everything reaching the page before you see it.
• Comment author must have a previously approved comment is the middle ground: known people post straight away, new ones queue.
• Automatically close comments on posts older than a number of days cuts off the old articles that spam bots find first.

An anti spam plugin does the rest. WordPress ships with Akismet available, and any of the well maintained alternatives works.

#Common questions

The comment form is missing on one post only

Check the Discussion panel on that post. A post published while the site wide setting was off keeps comments closed even after you turn the setting on.

Comments are missing on every post

Check the theme toggle first, since it hides the area regardless of what WordPress thinks: AppearanceCustomizeSingle PostFooter, Comments block.

Can I use a third party comment system?

Yes. Most of them ship a plugin that replaces the WordPress comment area, and Verba steps aside for it.

Comments do not appear on a password protected post

That is deliberate. The comments area stays hidden until the password is entered, because a discussion about protected text gives the text away.

Last updated 22 Sep 2026