WordPress.com

1. vivianpaige
   Member
   May 18, 2012, 10:55 PM

   Recently, I've had several people tell me that they were unable to leave a comment on my blog without logging in. This is weird because nothing on my end has changed - the box about requiring users to log in remains unchecked. Today one person did a screen capture of what they saw when they tried to post on my blog. And then I tried it myself - by logging out and trying to leave a comment. Sure enough, the box pops up, asking them to log in.

   Searching through the forums, I found this closed thread: http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/readers-comments?replies=2#post-852516

   And the response:

   We only require visitors that already have a WordPress.com or Gravatar account to login before they leave a comment.

   OK so when did this change? And why? (And no, it's not included in the documentation.)

   Better yet - what can I do to make this go away? Just because someone has a gravatar or wordpress.com account doesn't mean that they even remember setting it up, much less the password! It shouldn't be required, it should be a setting in the dashboard.

   Can somebody point me to how to fix this?

   The blog I need help with is blog.vivianpaige.com.

2. timethief
   Member
   May 18, 2012, 11:07 PM

   Hi there,
   I have flagged this thread for Staff attention. See also > http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/recent-update-to-commenting?replies=4
   More here > http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/you-must-be-logged-in-to-comment/page/11?replies=327#post-852388

   There is quite a bit of speculation here, and while I can't address every single point, I'd like to point out that one of the many reasons behind this change was to provide greater control over your own identity within comments at WordPress.com.

   Anyone who knows your email address could have easily linked their comment to your account in a way that was indistinguishable from you leaving it, and you would have no way of knowing it or stopping them. Now comments linked to your account are always going to be from you. ... read more here please > http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/you-must-be-logged-in-to-comment/page/11?replies=327#post-852388

3. macmanx
   Happiness Engineer
   May 18, 2012, 11:31 PM

   Yes, that is definitely recent commenting change.

   Please see the threads that timethief posted above for details.

4. vivianpaige
   Member
   May 19, 2012, 12:33 AM

   Hate it. Guess the only fix is to not require an email address on the comments. Which is a real shame, because sometimes, that's the only way I have to reach people.

5. vivianpaige
   Member
   May 19, 2012, 12:36 AM

   Of course, there's no way to disable just email address on the comment form, either :(

6. beaudangles
   Member
   May 20, 2012, 4:02 AM

   I'm so frustrated. This login-before-commenting (when I'm already logged in to WP) is creating a huge headache .. and obviously for others, judging by the lengthy comments on several other threads. Vivian ... I tried to contact you but without luck.

   I've left several posts on the Forum in the last 5 or 6 days about this issue and have yet to receive a reply. This surprised me. In the past I have had quick response to my questions.

   The user name that "magically" appears is not one I've used with any of my WP blogs ... it's actually my backup address should my first one become inactive. And as for a password ... I've never had a password for that e-address. And the password for my blog doesn't work.

   There is a link where I can request a new password ... BUT will this change the password I use to log into my WP blog? Too many questions, too few answers.

   WP ... shame on you ... you could have done a much better job of explaining what was happening and why. You could have lowered the stress level for yourselves and your bloggers if you had included a step-by-step process in one location, rather than bits of pieces of info scattered among a multitude of threads.

7. motre
   Member
   May 20, 2012, 4:39 AM

   I prefer this security feature. It prevents someone from pretending to be me. They cannot use MY email address because they cannot know my password to login with.

   If you enable anonymous commenting, it is still possible to provide and email address. But if that email address is one that is already known here, then the protection mode kicks in and whoever is commenting must prove they are that person who owns that email address. Logging in is the mechanism to prove that.

   To avoid this, use an email address that is not known (has never established a password here ... including Gravatar) or don't use one at all.

8. vivianpaige
   Member
   May 21, 2012, 10:07 PM

   @beaudangles - I got your comment. I believe each email address has a separate password. The login for my blog is completely unrelated to the login for my email address, though.

   I would have liked to have seen this as an option, rather than it being applied site-wide. Now that I know it exists, I was able to put a post on my blog explaining it. But not knowing about it - and it not being explained in the comments FAQ - was annoying. When gravatars were first implemented, I encouraged people to go and get one. I had no idea this was coming.

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