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. alhakim

    Wp feature that i’m waiting for finally release 🙂 thanks

    Like

  2. Gyl

    Great, Cool, and… Nice 😀

    This is what I want 😉

    Like

  3. Pingback: comment threading dari WP « sky is the limit
  4. 梁業豪

    Can we have bolded solid lines for upper border and lower border of a topic and all its responses? It is now very difficult to spot out the topics.

    Like

    • Heather

      The appearance of threaded comments varies by theme. You may try previewing another theme under Appearance > Themes to see if others suit your blog better.

      Like

  5. 梁業豪

    By the way, can we have all comments grouped and sorted by the names of people who posted them?

    Like

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  7. ultimoAdios

    Full implementation – 10 deep entries. Spread the word!

    Like

  8. fasean

    great stuff!!

    Like

  9. plrang

    I’ve read comment TRADING – that was very intriguing.. and it’s just threading … duh… this feature is slight an old well known achievement ;>

    Like

  10. Lilja

    Great tool – thanks once again 😀

    Like

  11. Herman S.Y

    It’s very cool, i like it a lot, but still the administrator comments were count on each post. Can the administrator comments uncount on each post? Thanx WP!!!

    Like

  12. Pingback: Wah akhirnya usulan Gue ttg Comment Thread (Z to A) disetujui Wordpress « Yang HêBöH™ & Yang Lainnya© - www.Mampir.Net
  13. qsps

    Dude,

    how about make “sticky posts”.

    I want some old post appears on the top (sticky) , similar to “gadget” at blogger.com

    Thanks

    Like

    • Heather

      Good news: sticky posts is already a feature! Just click on “visibility” in the publish module next to the text editor and select the sticky option.

      Like

  14. Nai

    Thank you 🙂

    Like

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  16. bluewizzard

    Cool upgrade dude…

    Like

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  18. ronakorn

    Awesome! Great feature. Thanks!

    Like

  19. ~xPrownPilk

    AWESOMENESS!!! THANKS WP!!!

    Like

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  21. wattsupwiththat

    Nice, thank you!

    My number one requested feature is comment preview. I hope this is in the works

    Like

  22. Pingback: WordPress News: LiveJournal Migration Improved, WordPress Plugin Search Improved, bbPress Updated, and More « Lorelle on WordPress
  23. hatrangminhem

    what have must i do?

    Like

  24. Alice

    wicked! 😀

    Like

  25. HermanSamsudeen

    it’s nice…i like it

    Like

  26. 2009 Yerel Seçimleri

    Thank you

    Like

  27. tokeeptheballrolling

    cool as always guyz:-)

    Like

  28. sulochanosho

    A good pack to track the comment lines. So stay hooked and linked!
    Thanks for the enhanced feauture on WordPress for blogging more huggingly!

    Like

  29. Jürgen

    Yeah, that’s one of the Features, we missed before! Thanx 😉

    Like

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  33. Roman

    Yeah. Big thx for that new feature and the amazing Vigilance theme.

    >> WordPress rules the Bloggosphere <<

    Like

  34. Pingback: Selamat Datang Threaded Comments | Mbak Maya
  35. Upik

    Nice info, thank’s alot.. 🙂
    Wordpress much better..

    Like

  36. Paprika

    i just love it! thanks!!

    Like

  37. lovetomakeup

    This is great, thanks!

    Like

  38. thebrain2u

    Very nice. I had a friend ask about threaded comments just a few weeks before. And now, bam, it’s available. WordPress is great!

    Like

  39. prosbee

    This feature is a bomb. Thank you for show casing one fact, “you’re always getting better”.

    Cheers!

    Prosbee.

    Like

  40. indrasandha

    I have been waiting to have a blog for months

    Like

  41. Pingback: Metablog: Threaded Commenting « Prone to Laughter
  42. hridayramshenoy

    you should have enabled this long ago. this is nothing new – only new to WordPress.

    Like

  43. paspic

    Thats brilliant, great work.

    Like

  44. Pingback: WordPress News: LiveJournal Migration Improved, WordPress Plugin Search Improved, bbPress Updated, and More | My First Blog
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  46. Pedro

    Hi, I like the ideas, but they don’t work particularly well with my blog.

    The breaks in the page is a super idea, but when you break into page 2… you make a comment… and it sends you back to the first page of the comments. This is confusing…

    Also, when you click, ‘Older comments’ it takes you back to the first page of comments… not the previous page.

    The reply system is a great idea… shame it doesn’t really work with a blog with lost of comments!

    Oh… and finally, if the newest comments go at the top of the post, it would be nice if the comment box moved to the top of the page with it… scrolling to the bottom for your comment to go at the top is a bit weird…

    Cheers

    Like

  47. ceritadanduniaku

    nice.thank you very much……….

    Like

  48. The Rev Dr Sherwood Forrester

    Between this and the simplified LJ import, I am one very happy camper–*now* I feel fully moved in. Thanks, gerat job!

    Like

  49. Sasha Two Pistols

    I am so excited about this new comment threading. I had even gone as far as emailing other bloggers and asking how they had gotten it. I installed it immediately to my blog and loving every minute of it. Keep up the great changes!

    Like

  50. Dean Longmore

    Sweet, this is a feature I will actually use!

    Like

  51. Pingback: Comment Thread in melasari.wordpress.com : Activated « Kotak Mela
  52. Fan

    Great ! Think this like a forum in general ….

    Btw, thanks for the advances …

    Like

  53. Cashmere Lashkari

    This is great. Thanks for the new settings to play around with!

    Like

  54. azul

    this is cool..em using it now..tnx!

    Like

  55. yamaryam

    Great! great!

    Like

  56. Matthew M.

    Heather,

    When can I be able to insert a chatbox/message board on my wordpress page? It would be good if wordpress’s latest feature is a chatbox. PLEEASEEEE…..

    Like

  57. rupickman

    Wonderful… Thanks a LOT. I’m not shure if I’ll use it, but it’s great to have the option.

    Like

  58. legoless

    Is it possible to, for example, break the comments into multiple pages for one perticular post/page, or are these options only for your whole blog?

    Like

  59. Dony Alfan

    Viva wordpress.com!

    Like

  60. muquiyauyo1

    hey, nicer!

    Like

  61. jbuster

    cool

    Like

  62. Dr. Nice

    cool feature! more more more

    Like

  63. melbro

    Thank you wordpress!!!!

    Like

  64. melbro

    Thank you wordpress!!!! this is cool, but the time zone thing is kind of a problem.

    Like

  65. catamaran

    thank you!!
    something i didn’t really know that i wanted,
    but now that we have it, i love it. chanx.

    Like

  66. owenswain

    Bless you and yours 10,000 times 10,000

    Like

  67. mcvaliant

    Beautiful, insightful and intelligent.

    Like

  68. imagineinspired

    Yipee! This is really cool!
    Thanks WP!

    Like

  69. ariesjorge

    Oh this is great!

    Thanks.

    Like

  70. daagelle

    Awesome!

    Like

  71. sjk

    @Jane Wells: Thanks for the suggestion to discuss plugins (live preview, in this case) on the wordpress.org forums. I’m still hoping live preview can eventually be available on wordpress.com.

    Like

  72. Pingback: Comment Threading and SociaBOOM « chasing daylight
  73. ismiardi

    very nice!!!

    Like

  74. bl4ck33

    thank’s

    Like

  75. Pingback: increase interactivity on wordpress « dream home, beach moments, sundry thoughts
  76. dhenztm

    Wow this is very nice! Thank you!

    PS: Hope that we could also prevent our comment replies on our own site from showing up in Recent Comments (as an option).

    Again thanks!

    Like

  77. Rehan Ahmed

    its Really nice feature

    Like

  78. kitong

    thanks its cool, easy and simple..

    thanks for WP

    Like

  79. mhilotic

    i dont know whatto say… but one thing for sure i cant really understand how to manage my blog site.. hehe.. just a begginer…

    Like

  80. lovemoren

    Aha! great stuff!

    Like

  81. info1merrick

    This is fabulous! Can’t wait to start using it!!

    Like

  82. Nicro1

    That’s awesome!!!!

    Like

  83. gap

    hi
    just a simple question: this threading scheme (with levels) will be implemented on the comments administration area (on the dashboard) too?
    my best

    Like

  84. Karen Blixen

    Wonderful and thank you guys.

    I’ve been testing the settings for 3 days now. And FUN is a very boring word for my blogger readers and I have done and learned. I think I know now what to do and what not to.

    Only no-like so far is the coment pages. Because the counting starts at the oldest one. So if you chose to display oldest on top and you set 10 comments for page (example), when you reach 11 comments, the eleventh one will be alone in the FIRST visible page, while the other ten are hiding in the second….

    My suggestion would be that the counting of the pages should be inverse to the user’s choice of order of display (newest or oldest first).

    Like

  85. កាក​អំពៅ

    When can we collapse and expand the comment text box? because too many comments make me confused who is replying to whom.

    Like

  86. sharun

    That is a really cool feature, thanks!

    aruna

    Like

  87. aminherwansyah

    well done WP

    Like

  88. meimi132

    Yaaaay this saves commenting on the commenters blog lol. Although…. they might not know you’ve replied… If they haven’t chosen to be alerted of replies lol

    Like

  89. catsarelove

    Spiffy!!!

    Like

  90. Ömer Enis

    friendfeed comment? 😦

    Like

  91. sigurdas

    Great, thanx!

    Like

  92. beatlesfan1

    this is a-s-o-m-e asmome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    WOHO :):):):):):D

    Like

  93. ilmwealth

    All I can say is WOW! Nice 2 be here!

    Like

  94. kalivaraprasad

    this is kalivaraprasad attended IUCEE-2008 on VLSI course. it was very useful to me. i am using the tips i got from that course.such as make the subject lively, testing them at the end of the hour .the results were fruitful.

    Like

  95. Andreas

    Thanks a lot!!!

    Like

  96. Guy Shalev

    What I would really love is having the option for only me (the moderator) to post nested comments. So I will set the allowed layers to “1”, and that way I could reply to a comment, and have the discussion continue below, but with my response showing where it should.

    But this is great, thank you.

    Like

  97. Guy Shalev

    Also, it’d be nicer to have a page-count and direct links at the bottom of the post for multiple pages of comments, so people could jump directly to a specific page, and know how many there are.

    Like

  98. m Andrea

    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!

    Yes, Yes, and YES!! The helpful people behind wordpress are truly amazing. For some reason, I had thought that developers of wordpress were some rich conglomerate theocracy. Instead I read that all of wordpress — ALL OF IT — is developed, maintained, and supported by volunteers?

    Yeah, I would seriously prefer to give you folks my money. Pleeeeeeeeze take my money! lol

    Like

  99. Maltesh

    Cool… thanks…

    Like

  100. kikzzz

    sounds like a winner 🙂
    many thanks.

    Like

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