Comment Tips
October 19, 2011
Conversation between bloggers and readers is important for your blog. We've talked recently about using CSS to make your author comments stand out, and TypePad gives you a variety of tools to manage comments.
Display Your Custom Avatar
On your blog, you can allow for a custom avatar to be displayed for each commenter. At Settings > Comments, select the option the "Show Userpics" and click Save Changes.
When you sign in to TypePad or Facebook to comment on a blog, your TypePad Profile or Facebook Profile picture will be displayed next to your account.
To upload a custom profile image, click the Profile link in the heading of your account and click Edit Profile. Click Browse to choose an image from your computer. Then click Save Changes to update your account.
Next time you comment on a TypePad blog, click the "Sign in with TypePad" link above the comment form. (You can also choose to sign in with Facebook.) You'll be prompted to sign in or recognized as already signed in to your account. Once you are signed in, you will see the "You are signed in as" text above the comment form. If you don't see this text, you will need to click the sign in link.
If you don't sign in to comment, one of the default avatar images will display next to the comment.
Comment Feeds
A feed for comments can be enabled for each post. For active threads, subscribing to the comment feed makes it easy to keep up to date on the latest replies to the blog.
At Settings > Feeds, check the box to enable "Comments on individual Posts and Pages" and click Save Changes.
Please note comment feeds are not available when using TypePad Connect or third-party comment systems.
Close Comments On Older Posts
Encourage readers to comment on newer posts and participate in more recent conversations by closing comments on older posts. Also older posts which have been inactive for some time are likely targets of spammers. TypePad allows you to automatically close comments on a post after a specific period of time.
At Settings > Comments, you can choose to auto-close comments on posts published a week ago or up to a year ago.
Block List
The Block List allows you to block not only spammers but others who may be posting comments which do not belong on the thread. You have control over comments on your own blog and can choose to prevent comments from being published.
At Comments > Block List, you can add keywords, email addresses, websites, and IP addresses to the list. All fields of the comment form are checked for block content. You can even add partial items to the list. For example, if someone is commenting with different but similar website addresses, you can block trollsite which will prevent trollsite.biz, trollsite.net/inoz, [email protected] from being included in comments.
Add Recent Comments Module
By placing the Recent Comments module in the sidebar of your blog, you make it easy for visitors to your site to see where the current conversation is taking place on your blog.
To add the module, go to Design > Content. Select the Recent Comments module and click Add This Module. Rearrange your sidebar modules and click Save Changes to update your blog.
Do you have any other tips for managing comments? Share your tips in the comments.
Making author comments stand out using CSS code really worked out great in my blog.
Posted by: Kofla Olivieri | October 19, 2011 at 08:05 PM
Thank you! I have been trying to figure out how to post my profile pic with my comments for ages!
Posted by: Lisa Goodmurphy | October 20, 2011 at 12:57 PM