Quick Start
Quick Start
Get your private comment system up and running in under 5 minutes. This plugin requires no complex configuration; once activated, it automatically applies privacy filters to your WordPress comment sections.
1. Installation
You can install the plugin via the WordPress Admin Dashboard:
- Download: Get the latest plugin
.zipfile from the Releases page. - Upload: In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
- Install: Select the downloaded file and click Install Now.
- Activate: Click Activate Plugin once the installation is complete.
2. Basic Usage
The Private Comments plugin is a "set and forget" solution. There are no settings pages to configure. Upon activation, the plugin immediately begins filtering comment visibility based on the following permission logic:
- Administrators: Can see all comments.
- Post Authors: Can see all comments on their own posts.
- Comment Authors: Can see only the comments they have personally submitted.
- General Public: Cannot see any comments.
3. Verifying the Setup
To ensure the plugin is working correctly, you can perform a quick test:
- Post a Comment: Log in as a "Subscriber" or post a comment as a guest.
- Check Visibility (Public): Open the post in an Incognito/Private browser window (logged out). You should see a message indicating comments are restricted or simply see no comments at all.
- Check Visibility (Admin): Log in as an Administrator. You should still see the comment count and the full content of all comments.
Developer Note: Hooks & Filters
While the plugin is designed to work out of the box, it hooks into the standard WordPress comments_clauses and the_comments filters. If your theme uses custom database queries to fetch comments (rather than standard functions like get_comments() or wp_list_comments()), you may need to ensure those queries respect the global comment filtering.
// Example: The plugin automatically handles standard loops
if ( have_comments() ) :
wp_list_comments();
endif;