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:

1. Download: Get the latest plugin .zip file from the Releases page.
2. Upload: In your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
3. Install: Select the downloaded file and click Install Now.
4. 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:

1. Post a Comment: Log in as a "Subscriber" or post a comment as a guest.
2. 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.
3. 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;