Discussion settings UI flaw

[janpaulkleijn]

This is about two checkboxes in Settings -> Discussion:

Before a comment appears > Comment must be manually approved
Before a comment appears > Comment author must have a previously approved comment

If the first one is unchecked and the second one checked, all comments made by first time commenters:

• will not be published,
• an approval email will be sent, regardless of the unchecking of the first option,
• approving the comment via the approval email results in an error (comment ID not found) and
• these will not show up in the list but are counted in the totals.

So these comments dissapear into limbo apparently :-)

But this can totally and elegantly be fixed by a small UI adjustment. The fix:

Disable and uncheck this second checkbox (Comment author must have a previously approved comment) when the first checkbox (Comment must be manually approved) is unchecked. An admin should only have power over this second checkbox when the first checkbox is checked. Otherwise it should be disabled and unchecked.

[knutsp]

Hello @janpaulkleijn and welcome to Trac.

All my sites have the first option unchecked and the second one checked. This works fine. Only the first comment (based on user or the email field) have to be (manually) approved. I can't see the UI flaw in this.

If it makes your comments not found (by ID) then you probably have a plugin that deletes such comments. Akismet?

Opposite, if the first option is checked, then the second has no relevance. If some change is needed for clarity, then hide the second option if the first one is checked.

[janpaulkleijn]

Hi Knutsp,
When you say: "If it makes your comments not found (by ID) then you probably have a plugin that deletes such comments. Akismet?"

What do you mean by 'such comments'?

[knutsp]

Replying to janpaulkleijn:

What do you mean by 'such comments'?

This:

approving the comment via the approval email results in an error (comment ID not found)

[janpaulkleijn]

So you say that every first comment will be deleted by Akismet when only the second option is checked?

[knutsp]

I just know that WordPress core will not delete any comment, that plugins or users may do so, and that Akismet (and other plugins?) has an option to automatically delete certain comments based on algorithms and spam factor.

When trying to prove or reproduce a bug in core, one should always run plain WordPress, no active plugins and the default theme. If you do, does this still happen?

[janpaulkleijn]

I know, therefore I immediately removed all plugins and changed the theme to default twentyseventeen. Still the comment list showed 'no comments found' and still the comment was counted. By the way, after I checked the 'first option' the comment appeared in the list. So you can probably understand my logic and why I took the time to report it to you.

I tried reproducing it on another website (with Akismet, same settings) but it didn't create the same result, it worked like you said.

I also rechecked the comment in question with akismet and it said 'no spam'. So I assume that Akismet was not at fault here.

How can it be that this happened? Or should I just ignore it as being a 'strange incident'?

[knutsp]

Replying to janpaulkleijn:

I know, therefore I immediately removed all plugins and changed the theme to default twentyseventeen. Still the comment list showed 'no comments found' and still the comment was counted. By the way, after I checked the 'first option' the comment appeared in the list. So you can probably understand my logic and why I took the time to report it to you.

Changing these options should not affect the list of comments. Don't know what's going on then.

Just tested this and got an email, click in either of the action links revealed the comment. I'm quite sure there is no bug in core here. Unless clear steps to reproduce is provided.

The Discussion Settings page UI has another ticket, but unable to find it right now.

[janpaulkleijn]

Changing these options should not affect the list of comments. Don't know what's going on then.

I don't either. And I can't reproduce it apparently so I am just going to ignore it all and stop wasting my and your time.

But I know what I saw, it was strange behavior. Definitely not hallucinating :-)

Thanks