Disable WordPress Comments without Plugin

Hey there! If you’re running a WordPress site, you know that comments can sometimes be more of a hassle than they’re worth.

Over the years, I’ve run into my fair share of spammy comments, and believe me, they’re a nightmare to manage. I’ve even spent hours deleting bots that were just filling up my comment section with random gibberish.

It can get overwhelming, right?

Well, you’re in luck because today I’m going to show you how to disable WordPress comments without needing to install a plugin. That’s right – no extra bloat, no extra code to manage. Just a few simple steps, and you’ll have comments completely turned off.

Let’s dive in and take the easy route!

Why Disable WordPress Comments?

Before we jump into the “how,” let me quickly explain why you might want to disable comments altogether. For a while, I was all about the comments section – I thought it was great for engagement. But after dealing with a surge of spammy comments, I realized I just didn’t need them. Here are some reasons you might want to disable comments:

• Spam: If you’re not actively moderating, comments can quickly get overrun by spam.
• Content Type: For certain types of content (like business sites, portfolios, or blogs without active community engagement), comments just aren’t necessary.
• User Experience: If you’re not engaging with commenters and don’t have time to monitor discussions, removing the comments section can lead to a cleaner, more streamlined website.

Trust me, once I did this, my site looked so much cleaner, and I didn’t have to worry about the constant flood of spammy bots. Now, I only get comments on the posts I actually want them on, and even then, I moderate them closely.

How to Disable WordPress Comments Without a Plugin

Alright, let’s jump into the steps! It’s really simple to disable comments on your entire WordPress site. I’ll walk you through it.

Step 1: Disable Comments for New Posts

1. Go to Your Dashboard: Log in to your WordPress admin panel.
2. Navigate to Settings: On the left-hand side, you’ll see the Settings option. Hover over it and click on Discussion.
3. Turn Off Comments for Future Posts: In the Default article settings section, you’ll see a checkbox that says Allow people to post comments on new articles. Uncheck that box to disable comments on all future posts.
4. Save Changes: Don’t forget to hit the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.

At this point, all new posts you publish won’t have a comments section. But this doesn’t affect old posts just yet, so let’s keep going.

Step 2: Disable Comments on Existing Posts

If you have a bunch of older posts and you want to turn off comments for all of them, here’s how you do it.

1. Go to Posts: From the WordPress dashboard, click on Posts and then All Posts.
2. Bulk Edit Posts: You’ll want to select the posts you want to edit. You can do this by ticking the checkbox at the top left of the list (this will select all posts on the page) or by selecting specific posts.
3. Choose Bulk Actions: Once you’ve selected the posts, click the Bulk Actions dropdown at the top, and choose Edit. Click Apply.
4. Disable Comments: In the bulk edit screen, find the Comments dropdown and select Do not allow.
5. Update Posts: After making this change, click Update, and all your selected posts will no longer allow comments.

I did this for my site after I got tired of dealing with spam. I had hundreds of posts with comments enabled, and within minutes, I was able to disable them all. It was so satisfying to know I wouldn’t have to manually delete comments anymore.

Step 3: Disable Comments on Pages

You might also have pages on your site where you don’t want comments. You can turn off comments on pages by following these steps:

1. Go to Pages: Navigate to Pages in your dashboard.
2. Edit the Page: Open the page where you want to disable comments.
3. Check Discussion Settings: On the page editor, scroll down below the content editor to find the Discussion box. If you don’t see this box, click on the Screen Options at the top and check the box for Discussion.
4. Disable Comments: Uncheck the Allow comments box.
5. Update Page: Hit Update to save the changes.

This way, you’ll be able to selectively turn off comments on any page you choose.

Step 4: Disable Trackbacks and Pingbacks

Trackbacks and pingbacks can also be sources of unwanted notifications and spam. Let’s disable them:

1. Go to Discussion Settings: Return to the Settings > Discussion page.
2. Disable Notifications: Under Default article settings, uncheck the box that says Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article.
3. Save Changes: Don’t forget to hit Save Changes.

By doing this, you won’t get spammy notifications about other sites linking to yours, and you’ll have fewer headaches to deal with.

Wrapping It Up

And that’s it! You’ve now disabled WordPress comments without needing to install any plugins. I promise, once I did this for my sites, I noticed a huge difference in the level of maintenance required to keep things running smoothly. No more dealing with comment spam, no more distractions.

However, remember that some of your readers might miss the comments section if it was previously active. So, if you want to encourage interaction in other ways, you could try social media, a contact form, or even email newsletters.

In the end, it all comes down to what works best for you and your site. I hope this guide helps you take control over your WordPress site’s comments section, just like it did for me.

Good luck with your site, and feel free to reach out if you run into any issues! I’m always here to help.