Some comments are pure SPAM, easily destroyed by Akismet with the click of a button. Others type of semi-legit comments however are much harder to deal with.
For example, you’ll find a lot of people post legitimate and meaningful comments but stuff the “Name” column with keywords for their website (some smart SEO guru told them that’s how it’s done). Others may drop their signature link (s) in the comment itself. This makes it difficult for you to moderate, and previously you just had to live with it.
Here’s a solution: Clearly display a “comment policy” on your blog, help your readers self-moderate their comments, and save loads of time.
Using the Comment Policy Plugin for WordPress you’ll be able to do just that. Tell your readers what type of comments are acceptable, and which ones are not.
How It Looks Like on Your Blog
On your blog’s comment form, readers will see your comment policy. They can then read what you will – or will not – accept in comments. This alone will significantly reduce the amount of keyword stuffing, signature links etc as you let your readers know what happens if their comments don’t adhere to your policy.
Let them self-moderate their comments before submitting it, saving you tons of precious blogging hours.
You can edit the appearance of the policy display completely using the Custom CSS box. Making it match the overall look of your blog is easy. You can automatically place the policy display on your comments form, or manually insert his code to where you want your policy to appear:
<?php comments_policy(); ?>
Easy Policy Editor for Admin
As a blog admin you can easily edit your policy, taking the default bullet points and text as a base. You can add a opening and closing statement, and rearrange the order of the bullet points. You can add more bullet points, temporarily disable some, and of course permanently delete bullets.
Once you have installed the plugin and activated it, you will see a new “Comments Policy” link right beneath the Comments section. We’ve put it in the most obvious place 
The most important thing is that if you own many blogs, you can create your comments policy in one blog and just export it, save it to your computer. On your other blogs, install Comments Policy and export the .json file to automatically re-create your policy.
Of course all this isn’t too hard to do if you’re good at HTML and know how to edit your WordPress theme – but hey this plugin does all the dirty work for you.
You can even download or create a sophisticated plugin that automatically searches comments based on your criteria and delete them.
You may find however, that prevention is way better than the cure.
Update:
This plugin is no longer supported, as we’ve grown jaded and annoyed with the WordPress plugin submission system.
We’re now focusing our efforts on maintaining our PLR WordPress Videos site, where you can get private label access to more than 100 WordPress, blogging and social media video tutorials. You can then rebrand it and sell it as your own product.
For more information, visit: http://www.plrwpvideos.com
I have several niche blogs. Sometimes I leave comments unapproved for weeks, because I don’t have time to decide about the borderline ones. (The obvious spam I delete immediately.)
Testimonials Manager is cool! It saves me alot of time designing a testimonial page.
Thanks for the great plugin. It works perfectly! Love the fact that there's a widget AND being able to have a testimonials page. Ive tried at least two other plugins, and they dont match the functionality of Testimonials Manager.
Great plugin, will plug that in! Thanks.
Marian
Comment by Marian — August 6, 2009 @ 8:36 am
good stuff, bro!
P/S: Not a SPAM comment. Just a short and sweet compliment. Keke..
–Dennis.
Comment by Dennis — August 6, 2009 @ 8:37 am
This is great plug in. Definitely I hate SPAM comments.
Comment by Nizam — August 6, 2009 @ 9:28 am
great plugin there…thanks!
Comment by ulwan — August 6, 2009 @ 9:47 am
I don’t have a current blog. Have been re-building after a disaster, but am just about ready to set up a new one. My old blog was plagued by this sort of nonsense and created a lot of unnecessary work. Thank you. Much appreciated.
Comment by Jim Parsons — August 6, 2009 @ 10:39 am
thanks gobala,
You are very kind to help. Please keep the good work up!
Jayshree
Comment by Jay Rossi — August 6, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
Works great, thank you
Comment by baron — August 6, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
I like the plug-in, but the policy should really be above the comment box. It will be a lot of surfers who don’t see the policy because they don’t scroll down the page far enough to see it. Otherwise it looks like a good shot at fighting spam.
Thanks.
Mike
Comment by Mike Johnson — August 6, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
Thank you so much for this! I have been battling with this problem!
I have several niche blogs. Sometimes I leave comments unapproved for weeks, because I don’t have time to decide about the borderline ones. (The obvious spam I delete immediately.)
This give everyone clear warning and should make life much easier!
Comment by Kathleen Gresham — August 6, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
Sheesh! So simple an idea … why hadn’t any of us thought of this before! Doh!
Thanks for creating this … I’ll be plugging it in to all my blogs … I get soooooo much spam!
Comment by Carma — August 6, 2009 @ 5:15 pm
Thanks, this is a good one!
Comment by Bob Marconi — August 6, 2009 @ 6:02 pm
This plugin contains an awful amount of code execution in terms of the trade off of throwing it straight into the comments template of your theme. I’m big on WordPress optimization and for the average or advanced user this plugin is not practical. A good idea for those who are newer to wordpress. Chances are though, if you are new to wordpress you dont know the code as well anyways.
On heavily trafficed wordpress sites, this is one I’d get rid of the cut corners. Or make very sure I had supercache running since its a non-dynamic addin.
Either way, always nice to have more options in the growing wordpress plugin community.
Comment by Rob Malon — August 6, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
Hi Gobala,
you always come up with some good stuff. Thanks.
Comment by vid — August 6, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
Erg. I just tried to turn it on at http://www.womens-business-gallery.com and got the following error:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting T_OLD_FUNCTION or T_FUNCTION or T_VAR or ‘}’ in /homepages/17/d221805378/htdocs/blog/wp-content/plugins/comments-policy/metabox.class.php on line 16
Any suggestions?
Comment by Carma — August 7, 2009 @ 5:17 am
@ Rob – Thanks for the feedback. As mentioned, if you know HTML you can just manually do it anyways. It is indeed meant for newbies, advanced users can perhaps just borrow the concept and hardcode their own policies directly. We’ll try to reduce the amount of code in the next version, while keeping the user experience.
Comment by Gobala Krishnan — August 7, 2009 @ 6:28 am
@ Mike – Exactly, it should be above the Submit button. But unfortunately it can only appear automatically at the bottom of the button, due to WordPress limitations (correct me if im wrong). That’s why you can also manually paste the code into your comments.php file above the button to make it even more effective.
Comment by Gobala Krishnan — August 7, 2009 @ 6:31 am
Good job Gopala !
Comment by Roseli A. Bakar — August 7, 2009 @ 11:33 am
Hey Carma, I just got the exact same error on my new video games blog at http://www.cheatcodesplus.com … I’m running WP 2.8.2 – is that the same version you’re using? I’m having a look at the code now, so if I figure out a solution, I’ll post it here.
Comment by Mark Sorensen — August 8, 2009 @ 7:55 am
Thank you very much for the plugin!
Comment by Microments — August 14, 2009 @ 5:22 am
Hi Carma , Mark
It seem you’re using the old version of PHP. You require at least PHP 5.2 and higher. By the way.. I already fix this issue in Comments Policy 1.1. You can use Comments Policy except import/export features.
Comment by napi — August 17, 2009 @ 4:15 am
This is definitely going to curb some spam on my blog. I was seeing a lot of the comments getting eaten by Askimset.
Comment by Alex — September 2, 2009 @ 7:11 am
This is definitely going to make my life easy as I get at least 100+ spam comments from folks promoting their so called cheap drug offers and other adult content offers. Thanks for this plugin!
Comment by Barry — September 13, 2009 @ 5:50 pm
tancks.
This Post Helped me
Good Time
Comment by sooran — September 15, 2009 @ 10:20 am
Gobala:
Thank you for the comment policy plugin you offered to your list a few days ago.
I am running WordPress version 2.6.1
Comment Policy ver1.1
Help your readers to self-moderate their comments by displaying a clear Comments Policy.
When I installed this plugin, I am getting this error message:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: screen_icon() in /homepages/29/d171141693/htdocs/mydomainame/wp-content/plugins/comments-policy/metabox.class.php on line 77
Do you know what’s wrong or do you have an updated version of your plugin?
Comment by Wil — September 18, 2009 @ 3:27 am
[...] Comment Policy for WordPress [...]
Pingback by Create Clear Comment Policy To Avoid Spam — October 7, 2009 @ 10:59 am
[...] dass es für WordPress Plugins gibt, die ein solches Risiko unnötig machen. Comments Policy nennt sich das schöne Plugin, mit dem sich im Handumdrehen ein paar Richtlinien für Kommentatoren [...]
Pingback by WordPress Plugin Comments Policy - Zeilen, Plugin, Spammer, Sache, Theme, Richtlinien, Blog, Klick, Fall, Installation - Majeres.de — October 9, 2009 @ 10:29 am
[...] Comments-Policy: Dieses Plugin, zu sehen unter dem Kommentarfeld, weißt meine Besucher darauf hin welche Art von Kommentaren hier keine Chance haben. Mit der Zeit hat sich dadurch der manuelle Spam mit Hintergrund hier Back- oder Reflinks unterzubringen stark reduziert, zumindest empfinde ich es so. Theoretisch bedarf es für diese Hinweise aber kein Plugin, man kann die Hinweise auch einfach im Code verankern. Ich finde es allerdings ganz praktisch die Hinweise über eine Schnittstelle im Dashboard bearbeiten zu können. [...]
Pingback by Blogs sind keine Müllkippe mit Selbstbedienung! - - Whats up world - — November 11, 2009 @ 12:54 am
I hate spam too, but don’t forget that commenting on others blog is most important thing for a blogger, you get Traffic from it, you get backlink from it, you get new friends from it
Comment by Maxence — January 22, 2010 @ 2:52 pm
[...] Comments-Policy: Dieses Plugin erzeugt ein kleines Textfeld in dem die Besucher darauf hingewiesen werden welche Arten von Kommentaren nicht erwünscht sind und keine Chance auf Freischaltung haben. Mittlerweile bin ich dazu übergegangen statt dem Plugin nur einen kleinen Text zu zeigen. Das Plugin könnt ihr zum Beispiel hier im Einsatz sehen. Für jeden der nicht im Code seines Blog-Themes arbeiten möchte ein nützliches Plugin. Die Texte kann man über eine Schnittstelle im Dashboard jederzeit verändern. [...]
Pingback by Spamkommentare auf Wordpress Blogs endgültig beenden | Netzpanorama.de — January 22, 2010 @ 11:19 pm
[...] Immer wieder stoße ich bei sogenannten Fachblogs und WordPress Cracks auf das scheinbar sehr beliebte Plugin Comments Policy for WordPress. [...]
Pingback by Warum Plugins wie Comments Policy überflüssig sind. » BLOG EVANGELIST — February 1, 2010 @ 11:32 pm
Gonna look this one up and see if I can auto install it. If not, I’ll be coming back to download. Thanks.
Comment by Brian H. — February 16, 2010 @ 5:02 am
Great idea. However I just made some CSS for my comment policy box based on your own and it turned out great. Thank you.
Comment by Doug C. — March 21, 2010 @ 2:53 pm
I can’t find this plugin listed in the WordPress plugin directory anymore.
Comment by Geoffrey Allan Plauché — March 31, 2010 @ 7:51 am
It was removed, with no warning, and no explanation.
Comment by Gobala Krishnan — April 5, 2010 @ 5:01 am
Hm, i just get „You 404’d it. Gnarly, dude.“
(
Comment by Uwe — April 8, 2010 @ 9:07 pm
Geoffrey, if you want I can send you the code I used for my div box which works fine in my pages. I had to insert it into my comments.php file. I also styled it in my CSS.
Comment by Doug C. — April 9, 2010 @ 7:13 pm
Hi, is this plug-in still active even if it was removed from wp plugin site? I always get a 404 error when i try downloading it. been like that for the last 3-4 days.
Comment by Gerald — April 13, 2010 @ 1:07 pm
Yes Comments Policy was removed by unknown people at WordPress without any reason, no notification either. Well, the download link is local now.
Comment by Gobala Krishnan — April 16, 2010 @ 2:45 pm
[...] do not violate certain bounds. You can use the comment policy pluggin and put into your blogs. Download here. It’s like you see at the below comments section of this [...]
Pingback by Tips to Make your First Article On Your Blog | Online Marketing Blogs — May 2, 2010 @ 11:05 pm
Danke für das Plugin, werde ich einmal einbauen und sehen was es bringt.
Gruß aus dem Norden von Deutschland von
Thomas
Comment by thomas57 — May 8, 2010 @ 2:02 pm
Danke für das Plugin, werde ich einmal einbauen und sehen was es bringt.
Gruß aus dem Norden von Deutschland von
Thomas
Thanks for the plug, I’ll install again and see what it brings.
Greetings from northern Germany of
Thomas
Comment by thomas57 — May 8, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
Yeap, great anti-spam plugin!
Comment by Boldis Media — May 20, 2010 @ 11:52 am
Hey Gobala,
you always come up with some good stuff. Thanks.
Comment by MiniCab London — June 27, 2010 @ 7:56 pm
This is just what I’m looking for came across it on another blog and thought it was great.
Comment by Craig — July 19, 2010 @ 1:44 am
hi,
I have several blogs set up and received many comments. While some are clearly spam comments but many of them are difficult to single out.
Your tips on comment set up can save me alot of time managing these comments
Thanks alot
Cheers
Comment by Frederick — July 22, 2010 @ 7:00 am
Amazing plugin. I intend to use it.
Congratulations
Comment by Hector Herrera — July 26, 2010 @ 5:05 pm
Hi, two questions:
1. Does this plugin work with WordPress 3.0?
2. Is it possible to insert html into the closing statement?
Thanks.
Comment by Jeff Miller — July 28, 2010 @ 11:15 am
[...] me, this is the best way to go, if you’re at all concerned. There’s even a comment policy plugin, developed for WordPress blogs, which helps you create a policy that will tell people what is and [...]
Pingback by The Mom Blogger Swearing Debate: Which Side Are You On? : : A Closet Writer — September 8, 2010 @ 12:06 pm
hello, same question with Jeff Miller
is is possible to insert html into closing statement ?
Comment by satrya — September 10, 2010 @ 8:19 am