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How to enable anonymous followers to comment on my entries?

  1. snailquake
    Member

    Hi.

    I keep getting emails telling me several people subscribed to my blog are blocked from commenting on my entries. I haven't blocked anyone. They tell me that people only may comment if they're members of Facebook, Twitter or WordPress, and they must log in using one of these accounts.

    Some of my followers are elderly relatives and friends who struggle with technology. I do not want to make things complicated for them by demanding that register with various other sites they have no interest in giving their personal details to. Other followers are subscribed to one of those sites but value their privacy and wish to keep their RL and online identities separate. I am very attached to WordPress and if there is a way round this, I would much rather not have to move my blog to a new site. However, this has been a problem for several months and there is no sign of any change on the horizon.

    Is there a get-around that I don't know about? Is there something I can change in my settings to enable anonymous replies? Or must I really move my blog away from this otherwise lovely site? :-(

    The blog I need help with is snailquake.wordpress.com.

  2. ardpete
    Member

    Dashboard > Settings > Discussion

    Uncheck the required lines under "Other comment settings"

  3. snailquake
    Member

    All of those are already unchecked. :/

  4. ardpete
    Member

    Right well, I've just left a test comment on your blog and all I had to do was enter my e-mail address and name, I didn't get any message stating I had to log into Twitter, Facebook or WordPress.

  5. snailquake
    Member

    Thanks. And very peculiar!

  6. ardpete
    Member

    It gives them the option to sign in via Twitter, WordPress, Facebook but it's not a requirement. If they're not very technically minded when it comes to the internet, that may be where they're getting confused.

  7. snailquake
    Member

    I just logged out and tried it myself. It lets me in if I use Gravatar, but otherwise I'm taken to a WordPress login page. Do you use Gravatar?

  8. snailquake
    Member

    Oh - and, it requires a Website address as well as name and email.

  9. ardpete
    Member

    It doesn't require a website addess, it just asks for one.

    If you're using an e-mail that's already registered to a WordPress account, then it will ask you to log in to stop people from copying your identity. When I left a test comment I used an e-mail address that wasn't registered to a WordPress account.

    If people are getting taken to a WordPress log in page, then the e-mail address they have entered is linked to a WordPress account and they will need to log in for security purposes.

  10. snailquake
    Member

    I wrote a reply here earlier, but I must have been logged out!

    My boyfriend is able to comment, so I'm going to try to get my friends/family to experiment.

    Thanks again for your assistance.

  11. timethief
    Member

    Others who were concerned about this placed a text widget in their sidebar informing visitors that when the email address is requested they can just ignore that and proceed to post a comment.

  12. snailquake
    Member

    Oh! Interesting...

  13. timethief
    Member

    You're welcome. :)

  14. snailquake
    Member

    That seems to have solved the problem nicely. Hoorah!

  15. timethief
    Member

    Good to know. Best wishes with your blog. :)

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