Previously, I showed how you can find a searchable table listing all your comments at the “My Account” menu link, eliminating one of the frustrations of WordPress.
Now I want to explain some of the cushy and handy functionality of the comment form itself (the “Add new comment” form that appears below every post). Here is a screen shot, helpfully annotated:
[1] You can “Reply” to an existing comment. Replies are indented (and indented (and indented…)), creating comment threads. You can also Comment on the post with “Add new comment” at the bottom of the page.
[2] You have a Subject line. I think Subject lines make for a better listing of comments in the sidebar. Further, it’s another opportunity to have fun as a writer by playing Subject line as headline off against the body as text, building suspense with an ellipsis, etc. Further, a title + a body puts comments on a par, structurally with posts, which I think is only fair. I view this feature as remedying a defect in WordPress as well.
[3] You have a formatting toolbar, so you can add bold and italic text, preview your comment, undo what you don’t like etc. Here again this remedies a defect in WordPress.
[4] Text formats are listed here. Depending on your administrative permissions, you may have more options than “Basic HTML” (which does not offer tables, for example).
[5] You can tag your comment. I view tags in comments as a community building function. For example, if cinephiles want to be able to track each other’s comments easily, they could add a #cinepile tag. Tags remedy another WordPress defect.
[6] You “Save” the comment (green for “go”), or “Preview” it (yellow for “caution”). Preview remedies another WordPress defect.
Also, if you write for a long enough time, you will see a black “Saving draft” notification box appear, so if your machine crashes or you accidentally close your browser window, you won’t lose your work. (I know this works on posts, I’m not sure about comments, but maybe somebody wants to test that.) This remedies, or should remedy, another WordPress defect.
Enjoy!
Comment policy: Right now, comments must be approved (though I hope to open this up once the shakedown cruise is over). But the good news is that once you have been approved three times, your comment appears immediately.
Readers, I hope you find this functionality congenial. But “no plan survives contact with the users!” If you have features you would like to add, or misfeatures you would like me to remove or fix, do not hesitate to comment below. I want as much commenting as possible, modulo bots, and to that end I have tried to provide the best possible commenting tools. Drupal is (almost) endlessly flexible, so don’t hesitate to ask.