how to fix WordPress comments not showing

When troubleshooting WordPress comments not displaying, it’s essential to navigate through a series of checks and adjustments to identify and solve the underlying issues. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you restore your WordPress comments section.

Step 1: Confirm Comment Settings
Start by ensuring that comments are enabled in your WordPress settings. Navigate to ‘Settings’ then ‘Discussion’ from your WordPress dashboard. Check the boxes for “Allow people to post comments on new articles” and ensure that settings under “Other comment settings” are configured according to your preference. Settings can sometimes change inadvertently, particularly after updates or when installing new themes or plugins.

Step 2: Verify Per-Post Comment Settings
While general settings may allow comments, individual posts can have comments disabled. Open the post editor for a specific post and look for the ‘Discussion’ box. If you don’t see it, enable it in the Screen Options at the top. Ensure that “Allow Comments” is checked. This is crucial because it’s possible to have general comments enabled while individual posts do not.

Step 3: Check Theme Support
Some WordPress themes may not support comments, or they might inadvertently hide them. To rule out theme-specific issues:

• Switch to a default WordPress theme, like Twenty Twenty-One.
• Check if comments appear on your posts.
  If comments show up after switching themes, the problem lies within your original theme. If you are comfortable with PHP, you can look at the comments_template() function in your theme’s files to ensure it’s correctly implemented.

Step 4: Inspect Plugin Conflicts
Plugins can conflict with each other and affect how comments are displayed on your site. Deactivate all plugins temporarily and see if comments reappear:

• If they do, reactivate plugins one by one, checking comments each time to identify the culprit.
• Once identified, either replace the conflicting plugin or reach out to the plugin developer for support.

Step 5: Examine User Roles and Permissions
Ensure that user roles and permissions allow for commenting. Some plugins or security settings may restrict commenting capabilities to certain user roles. Use a plugin like User Role Editor to verify permissions for different roles.

Step 6: Clear Cache and Cookies
Sometimes, caching plugins or browser caches can show an outdated version of your pages. Clear your site’s cache through your caching plugin settings and clear your browser cache. This step can solve issues where changes in the settings don’t seem to be taking effect.

Step 7: Review Comment Moderation and Blacklisting Settings
Highly restrictive moderation settings or accidental blacklisting can prevent comments from appearing. In your WordPress dashboard under ‘Settings’ > ‘Discussion’, review the “Comment Moderation” and “Comment Blacklist” sections. If there are too many words, IP addresses, or email addresses listed, it could be blocking legitimate comments.

Step 8: Update WordPress Core and PHP
Occasionally, outdated versions of WordPress or PHP can cause issues:

• Update your WordPress core to the latest version through the Dashboard > Updates.
• Contact your hosting provider to upgrade your PHP to a supported version, as older versions might be incompatible with newer WordPress or theme code.

Step 9: Debugging with WP_DEBUG
If none of the above steps work, use WordPress’s built-in debugging feature. Add the following lines to your wp-config.php file:

define('WP_DEBUG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);

This will log potential errors into a wp-content/debug.log file without showing them to your site’s visitors. Review this log for any error messages related to comments.

Step 10: Consult with Hosting Provider
Sometimes server-side settings or restrictions imposed by hosting providers can impact comment functionality. Contacting your hosting support can provide insights into any server-level configurations that might be affecting the comments.