Comment Threading is Here! (Plus Other Cool Comment Settings)

You asked, and we listened. Introducing threaded comments, comment paging, and comment order settings for your WordPress.com blog.

Go to Settings > Discussion in your dashboard, and you’ll discover three new options in the “Other comments settings” section:

  • “Enable comments [x] levels deep”
  • “Break comments into pages with [x] comments per page and the [first or last] page displayed by default”
  • “Comments should be displayed with the [newer or older] comments at the top of each page”

With the threaded comments option, you can connect and interact with your readers while easily keeping track of who’s saying what to whom. You control the conversation by setting the number of levels allowed in your comment threads, from 1 to 10. (Ten levels deep means nine replies under each comment — that’s a lot!)

We suggest setting threaded comments to about three levels deep, to keep the conversation focused. Here’s how that looks with the Contempt theme:

Threaded comments with the Contempt theme

To save you and your readers from scroll-finger strain, you can now break up comments into pages. You decide where to cut the thread, and whether to display the first or last page of comments as the starting point.

The default settings on your blog used to put the newest comment at the bottom. Now the order is up to you. If you want your readers to know what’s latest first, display the newest comment at the top. If you think it’s important to know the history of a conversation, display the oldest comment at the top.

It’s all part of our goal to help you improve the level of interaction on your blog, and give you more control over the look and feel of your blog.


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370 Comments

Comments are closed.

  1. Weasel Terrahawk

    Very nice! Kind of wish I had that on my WordPress.org personal website Blog… 😛
    There’s probably a Plugin for it somewhere, I just suck, haha. 🙂 Great feature though!

    Like

  2. sensico

    OMFG!!! I’ve been waiting for this since you guys first announced it. This looks kind of bland on my blog though, I cant figure out what CSS class to change the reply comments a different color….any ideas for sandbox-10 users? Anyways, I luff you guys ❤

    Like

  3. Gaizabonts

    Truly, truly, truly! You folks are amazing! Wish you could be cloned for everything out there!

    Like

  4. Tyler

    AWESOME!

    Like

  5. jamie012

    Thanks WordPress, this is soooo helpful!

    Like

  6. PenguinYcurSelf - Word Press - New

    Very nice work it’s easier than going to your ‘ Admin Control Panel ‘ just to Edit a post! Thank You 😀

    Like

  7. Pingback: A Comment, and Counting! « Gaizabonts
  8. dima

    You are so cool, guys! Amazing!

    Like

  9. alejna

    Hurray! Party in the comment section!

    Like

  10. andyash

    Thanks! That’s probably the biggest thing that WP used to lack. Now it is even more the blogging platform of platforms.

    Like

  11. Andrei

    Wow, finally. Any link where we can see this in action?

    Like

  12. Dave

    Nice additions

    I’d love to see a preview section added to comments. So you can check your comments before you post them. I think that would very useful.

    Like

  13. virtualquilter

    Thank you! It feels like i have been waiting for ever for this feature.

    Like

  14. bruleeblog

    First easy LJ transfers and now this. It feels like Christmas. 🙂

    Like

  15. Elias

    Oh this is great!
    Enabled it on my blog now. 🙂

    Thanks.

    Like

  16. I&U

    Could comments be sorted by post title? Thank you.

    Like

    • Heather

      While you can’t currently sort the “In Response To” column, if you click on the talk bubble icon next to a comment in your Comments menu, you will be able to view all comments associated with that post.

      Like

  17. Lauren

    This is so much better than adding my “authorial” response as a separate comment. The Comments widget space should be for readers’ comments, not mine.

    Before this excellent innovation, I had to edit in a reply to a comment, and it looked sort of bogus. Thanks!

    Now, if someone would just proffer a comment and start a thread, I could test it!

    Like

  18. salomey5

    That is a really cool feature, thanks! 🙂

    Like

  19. Momma Knows

    Yeah! Thank you!

    Like

  20. Thiago

    And the support to insert ads in the blogs? WIll it happen?

    Like

  21. Teck

    This is great news I have been waiting for the thread comments option
    thank you for enabling the feature. 🙂

    Like

  22. Jo

    Apologies for being fussy… feel free to throw things at me

    but…

    would it be possible to develop the feature to include an option to only allow the post author to do a threaded response? I’m happy with the standard comment set up on my blog but it would be great to be able to have my responses to my readers’ comments below the original

    /ducks

    Like

    • Jane Wells

      Hi Jo. Author responses will show up directly below the original comment (as they do here) as long as you click Reply and add your response instead of creating a new comment. You can reply to comments from your comment moderation screen or your dashboard.

      Like

  23. iaoj

    Thank you for Threaded Comments Option. It is imperesive. Even truly imperesive is what you are creating every day. Creative WordPress Team deserve congratulations on its hard work and commitment to WP.

    Like

  24. Chittaranjan

    Why aren’t the comments here threaded? :mrgreen:

    Great feature….Thanks!

    Like

  25. synapticlight

    this is a good thing

    Like

  26. Moses

    sick! i’m assuming upgrade for ads is paid?

    Like

    • Heather

      There is not currently an upgrade that will permit you to run ads on your site. We’re considering this feature for a future upgrade.

      Like

  27. MondoFree

    Thanks a lot, really helpful and make blog pages shorter!

    Like

  28. La historia del dia

    This is great!
    Thank you so much! 🙂

    Like

  29. Bronx Bohemian

    I Love This! And it’s retroactive! Thanx for the update. However, a couple of my responses to reader comments did not “nest”. I think I may have approved those comments directly from my email and then replied to them from the comment field when viewing my site. Does this feature only work if you reply to comments via the dashboard>edit comments?

    Like

  30. donnacha

    I hope that this means that the IntenseDebate guys, who I presume where involved in Automattic’s discussions about comments, are now going to get back into the game and try to catch up with Disqus. It has been sad to see Disqus execute user requests so well, while ID seems to dismiss huge user demand for features such as Facebook Connect integration.

    Like

  31. Daniel Florien

    Very nice! I was hoping for IntenseDebate integration, but hopefully that will be coming soon.

    Also please consider letting us pay you money in order to use javascript and custom themes! It’s a shame that most of us have to migrate off wordpress.com’s servers because we want more customization — we’d rather pay you than someone else!

    Like

  32. Sophie Lagacé

    Awesome, awesome, awesome!

    Like

  33. sallory

    Thank you .. it’s amazing!

    Like

  34. Pingback: Entscheidungen, nichts als Entscheidungen « rufus still thinks about his title …
  35. Satrion

    T’ve been waiting for this
    Thanks

    Like

  36. Mayu

    Yay, I’ve been waiting for this feature to break up comments into several pages. Thanks a lot!! 😀

    Like

  37. Carol Wieser | Travel Forever

    Muito Bom!
    Very Good!

    Like

  38. monster86a

    Thank you WordPress!! Thats Coolio

    ~monster86a

    Rox!

    Like

  39. jherewini

    Thanks for the tip, helps newbies like me well done

    Like

  40. demkid

    Is there a way to make it so your page view stats reflect your own current time? I.e., that they reflect your local day ending at midnight, instead of at midnight UTC? I know you can reflect local time on posts and comments, but how about for stats? Any help would be appreciated…thanks!

    Like

  41. {[(Limeboy11)]}

    u gotta make it so you can put your own ads on as an upgrade!

    Like

  42. goosetea

    f****** yeah! I love you WP 🙂

    Like

  43. m8walters

    Threaded comments sounds good. Thanks

    Like

  44. Pingback: Mari balas-berbalas pendapat « Satrion
  45. Johnny

    Cool! Thanks a lot!

    Like

  46. trollboy

    excellent.

    Like

  47. Wacky Flip8

    Totally amazing. Thanks for making it.

    Like

  48. timethief

    W00! H00! Thank you. 🙂

    Like

  49. Pingback: Comment changes in WordPress « I do not like green eggs and ham
  50. xcobar

    Thank you very much, this is a nice feature!
    I used to edit comments, inserting a “reply” in original text.
    Now, i don’t need to do that anymore. ; )

    Like

  51. Carlos

    One thing we really need: the ability to make the comment font smaller!

    Thanks for all your hard work!

    Like

  52. Lee

    FINALLY!!!
    I’m so happy about this I could dance.

    Like

  53. chloe

    too cool thanks :):)

    Like

  54. iliad2

    tanks very good

    Like

  55. Kaveetaa Kaul

    terrific! It seems as if you have read my thoughts. Badly needed nifty addition..thanks a bunch

    Like

  56. 2Bo02B

    Thank you. It feels like i have been waiting for ever for this feature.

    Like

  57. Darko

    OMG! Whats next? Free CSS? 🙂
    You are amazing. And you keep pushing it.

    Like

  58. qbit

    Very useful feature. Thank you very much!.

    Like

  59. Brigitte

    Score! Now I can stop @ing people!

    Like

  60. cenya95

    It’s nice feature
    thanx !

    Like

  61. misterclu

    This is wonderful! Thank you so much.

    Like

  62. AudaciousAria

    Oh wow, this is pretty cool. Thanks y’all.

    Like

  63. Celebes

    Enabled it on my blog now. 🙂

    Thanks.

    Like

  64. Rowjie

    this is what i’m waiting for! 🙂

    Like

  65. davidamwilensky

    excitement abounds

    Like

  66. Mekt

    ooooooooo thats cool! HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

    Like

  67. Shreevatsa

    This is a great improvement! Commenting on WordPress.com is now almost perfect; the only thing missing now: live comment preview.
    (Or even not live; a Preview button like Blogger would also do… it’s just that Live Comment Preview is probably easier to turn on 😉 )

    Like

  68. Daniel

    Great!

    Like

  69. Duto Sri Cahyono

    Bagus sekali nih…membuat blogger semakin enjoy. Terima kasih.

    Like

  70. Pingback: Comment threading on WordPress.com | WPLover
  71. Nibu Thomas

    Thanks once again!

    Like

  72. bs angel

    What a great feature. I activated it the second I saw this announcement. Thanks for making this an option for us!

    Like

  73. I&U

    thank you . It’s enough for me*

    Like

  74. akhdian

    Good! Great!

    Like

  75. eviwidi

    Wow…wow….everyday improve..and improve….thank a lot!
    My blog look more profesional.

    Like

  76. Tomal

    nice, wish more features in the future

    Like

  77. syscata

    That’s looking good.

    Thank you.

    Like

  78. irugnotmis

    great option!!

    Like

  79. Unknown Nobody

    Great feature… now I just need people to comment at my site so I can see this wonderful jewel 😀

    Like

  80. xrazerx

    Really nice feature. Go Go Go WP! 😀

    Like

  81. Rizal

    all themes are supported?

    Like

  82. goldnsilver

    This should be a great improvement. When responding I used to copy, paste and italisize a specific comment, now I can just respond directly on blogs that choose this option.

    Like

  83. skyx

    thanks. i want to have this feature for a time.
    live comment preview on the Shreevatsa’s comment is better feature. i like it.

    Like

  84. sjk

    @Shreevatsa: Live comment previewing (preferably optionally enabled) would be fantastic. Would also be great if it were bundled with the wordpress.org distribution so more people would be encouraged to use it on their blogs.

    Like

    • Jane Wells

      @sjk and @Shreevatsa: Since plugins aren’t enabled on wordpress.com blogs, it would be more appropriate to discuss plugins in the wordpress.org forums. Otherwise, people who see comments like this start sending support requests asking where they go to turn on plugins. Thanks!

      Like

  85. Pingback: New Wordpress Nesting Threading Comments Feature « Press Portal
  86. James17930

    But at the moment it looks like you can’t set these options on or off for individual posts, correct? They’re only for the blog as a whole, right?

    Because sometimes you might want the newest comments at the time, sometimes not.

    Like

  87. Vikas Gupta

    😀 😀 AWESOME! 😀 😀

    Long overdue!

    Better late than never!

    WP rocks!

    Like

  88. rouge47

    This reminds me of forum board posting. Awesome feature! 😉

    Like

  89. Vikas Gupta

    😆 OMG! I am loving it guys! 😆

    You won’t believe it was so much skin off my nose when they replied to my comments by editing it and leaving the replies just below my replies (so that it looked orderly)! That meant that I was not getting the email notification of the replies by the blog author (though I was getting other comments in my mailbox)! I had even suggested some of my WP friends not to do this.

    This is simply put, ‘a revolutionary change!’

    What is more anyone can reply to any comment. I guess the comment page will be the new centre of discussion on many blogs now! Nitawriter, Solilo, Nimmy : they’ll all love it! I am so excited I am leaving comments about this hot off the press news on my friends’ blogs. Thank you WP!

    Please enable the option and see for yourself what a refreshing change it is! I tried it with many test comments and it works great (though the levels deep option does not have much effect on my theme after 3 levels; but I don’t’ mind it. 🙂

    Dear WP guys, If possible, please introduce a signature option to go with posts (wherein the author can add a pic, name, signature, HTML, even social bookmarking) in future!

    Thank you once again. I may be a new kid on the blo(ck)g but I am loving blogging and this wonderful platform called WordPress!

    Today is the day to shower smilies guys!

    😆 😀 😀 😀 😀

    Truly Unfortunate are those who do not have a blog on WordPress! 😀

    Like

  90. 梁業豪

    Ir’a really so terrific. Thanks for your effort.

    Like

  91. 梁業豪

    I suggest we should also have “First Page”, “Last Page” as well as “Page 1”, “Page 2”, etc besides “Older Comments” and “Newer Comments”.

    Like

  92. Pingback: WordPress.com: Comment Threading « Wir sprechen Online.
  93. Lim Jun Jie

    Amazing. Thank you. I am looking forward to more changes!

    Like

  94. Dhimas L N ---- (^-^)v

    WOW WOW COOOLLLLLLL (^o^)b

    Like

  95. ζÔ§Η

    that’s awesome! now it’s much simpler to know who’s saying what to who! thankyou so much!!!

    Like

  96. linuxandfriends

    My God! This is just the feature I needed for my blog. Keep up the good work guys. WordPress.com rocks!!

    Like

  97. Pingback: Threaded comments « singen sang gesungen
  98. ayumilove

    yay, i find this very useful to keep up with visitor comments. thanks for informing us about this feature 😀

    Like

  99. Aditya Kavoor

    Thank you 🙂

    Like

  100. Ferireza

    cool! thanks WP!!

    Like

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