## Likes, views, and comment voting Product: Verba - Modern Blog & Magazine WordPress Theme URL: https://hub.jkdevstudio.com/docs/verba/the-single-post/engagement Updated: 2026-09-22 Summary: A small set of reader signals: the like button, the view counter, and comment voting. Where the data is stored, and why an empty counter is worse than none. Availability: Pro only. Start with the honest part: if your site has no comments and is not going to have any, leave these switched off. An empty counter under an article works against it, because zero is a number and readers read it. Where people do comment and come back, these signals tell you something analytics cannot: what moved readers, not just what got opened. ## What is available Settings are at [[Verba > Theme Options > Single Post > Footer]]. :::options - **Like button** (default: on): A like in the post footer. One reader, one like; the choice is remembered, so a return visit does not reset it. - **Like color** (default: a warm red): The color the heart takes once a reader likes the post. - **Comment up and down voting** (default: on): Readers raise and lower comments. - **Upvote color** and **downvote color**: The colors for each voted state. - **Collapse comments** (default: off): Puts the thread and the reply form behind a "view comments" toggle. ::: Comment voting is the simplest way to lift useful comments to the top without moderating by hand.
Collapsing the thread is worth it when a short article carries a long discussion. Otherwise the comments become most of the page, and a reader arriving from search scrolls through a conversation to reach nothing.
Views are counted per post and shown where the theme displays post meta. ## Where the data lives All of it is written to the post fields, not to an external service. The numbers stay yours, and any plugin that can read post meta can read them. In the admin, likes and views appear as columns in the posts list, switched on in [[Verba > Theme Options > General > Site]]. That turns the posts list into a ranking, which is the fastest way to see what actually worked.
Can somebody like a post repeatedly? The choice is remembered per reader, so a second visit does not add a second like. It is a reader signal, not an audited vote.
Do views count admin visits? Every open of the post is counted, so your own previewing adds up while you are working on a post. Treat the numbers as relative rather than exact.
Should I show view counts publicly? On a new site, no. A visible count of 3 tells a reader that nobody is here. Turn them on once the numbers help you rather than embarrass you.