When Might You Turn Comments On and Off on Your Blog?

Posted: 14 Oct 2013 04:00 AM PDT

When I posted about WordPress's Screen Options a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I sometimes switch comments off (which you can do using the Discussion module, made visible by toggling it in Screen Options).

In the comments on that post, DBT reader Karen wrote:

I'm a bit new to blogging so have a question that you might think is silly. Why would you want to turn comments on and off? I would think you either accept comments, or you don't.

This isn't at all a silly question – and it's one that you might be wondering about as well.

#1: You Used to Accept Comments and Now Don't (or Vice Versa)

WordPress lets you switch comments on or off for your whole blog in the "default article settings" under Settings à Discussion.

However, changing this will not affect anything you published in the past. If you want to turn off the comments on existing posts and pages, you'll need to do so on each individual post and page.

(The quick way to do this is to edit them via the All Posts and All Pages screens, using the Bulk Action Edit. Watch out for a post on Quick Edit options coming up soon!)

If you have a lot of existing pages and posts, it's probably best to use a plugin like Page Comments Off Please (which also lets you turn off comments on posts).

#2: You Don't Want Comments on a Specific Post

Sometimes, you'll post a piece that you don't want readers to comment on. This might be:

A lead-in to a guest post that you've written elsewhere: you want them to click through and read the post itself, instead of commenting on the snippet on your blog.
A special promotion for a product / service you offer. By turning off comments, you can have one clear action (click to buy) for your reader.
A post that's going up while you're away on vacation. Some bloggers choose to turn off comments when they won't be around to answer them.
A personal piece that you'd rather not have commented on. Perhaps you need to let readers know that you're facing a family emergency, but you feel uncomfortable at the idea of lots of supportive or anxious comments.

There are all sorts of reasons why you might choose not to have comments on a particular post – if you have another example, please feel free to share it with us.

#3: You Don't Want Comments on a Specific Page

I turn off comments on most of my pages: I don't think discussion generally adds value there, and can be distracting for readers.

Since pages tend to have a lot more visibility than individual posts, comments will often come in over a long period of time – meaning that there's little chance of actual discussion.

In particular, you might want to turn off comments on:

Your About page. Readers often turn here first, and you probably want to keep it as uncluttered as possible.
Your Shop page or other sales pages. Comments can be distracting here, and if you want to source reviews / testimonials, it's better to have people email them to you so you can place them in the page itself.
Your Contact page. Readers may accidentally leave a comment instead of filling in your contact form, which can make things confusing for them and for you.

#4: You DO Want Comments on a Post / Page

Perhaps you have comments off by default, but you want to enable them on a specific post or page.

For instance:

You may have a question for your readers, and getting them to post comments is probably the most straightforward way to gather answers.
You might be running a Q&A post, an "Ask the Readers" post, or something else special where it makes sense for your readers to have a say.
You could have a particular page where you want readers to be able to leave comments, even if these come in over time. On my blog Aliventures, I left comments switched on for my "ebook library" page for my newsletter, as readers often like to leave a thank you message there.

You may well have other reasons to add!

So, over to you: do you have comments on or off by default? And do you ever switch comment off (or on) for individual posts and pages?

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