If you are managing a blog or site with new posts all the time and multiple authors, it can be hard to keep track of which comments were answered, and which were left isolated and without a reply. Heck, this can be difficult if you just have one author. Comments Not Replied To has a quick solution for that.

What’s It Do?

Comments Not Replied To adds a new column to your Comments admin panel which lists which comments have, well, been replied to by the post author, and which have not. Everything happens on the backend so there is obviously a zero performance hit to your site, and there are no settings or customizations. If it’s functionality that you need, though, it’s perfect.

How’s It Work?

After installing and activating the plugin, visit the Comments section in your admin panel to see the plugin at work. On the right side of the page, you will see a new column labeled “Missing Reply.” This will indicate to you whether or not each comment has been replied to. Keep in mind, it tracks replies by the post author, not simply by the admin. So if a post was written by another user, and you as the admin reply, it will still show up as missing a reply, which keeps the plugin useful for a blog with multiple authors.

The three comment statuses

The “Missing Reply” section will contain one of three statuses.

• This comment is by the author: The comment was posted by the post author.
• The author has not yet replied: A comment may have been replied to, but the author has yet to chime in. These comments will be marked with a yellow circle.
• The author has replied: The comment has already been replied to by the post author. These comments will be marked with a green circle.

And that’s it for functionality. As long as your comments are hosted on your database, the plugin will work just fine. That means the functionality will be the same, even if you are using something like Disqus or Jetpack for your comments.

Costs, Caveats, Etc.

Comments Not Replied To is completely free, a joint effort by plugin developers Pippin Williamson, Tom McFarlin and Andrew Norcross, so you know it’s in good hands. The plugin hasn’t been updated much since it’s initial release, but the code is hosted on GitHub if you want to contribute or have an idea for a new feature. There should be more functionality coming to the plugin eventually.

If you are having any problems with the plugin, visit the support forums for help.

Resources

• Support Forums
• Write-up by Tom McFarlin, One of the Plugin Authors
• Source Code on GitHub