Blogger Commenting Options
- To find -- and change -- your blog's comments settings, log in to your Blogger.com account. You'll be taken to the Dashboard, which is essentially your Blogger.com homepage. Click on the "Settings" tag. Next, look for the "Comments" option; it will be the fourth section from the left.
- The first option in the Comments section is to show or hide your comments. By clicking on the "Show" box, you will change the default setting of your blog to show all comments submitted by your blog's readers. If you click on the "Hide" box, your new default setting will be to hide those comments. Clicking on the "Hide" box does not delete comments that have already been submitted; rather, those comments will reappear if or when you switch your settings back to "Show."
Another option that affects how comments are displayed on your blog is the "Comments Default for Posts" section. You have two options: "New Posts Have Comments" or "New Posts Do Not Have Comments." If you choose the first option, readers will be able to leave comments by clicking on the "Comments" link attached to each post. Choosing the second option will eliminate this link and disable the comments function altogether, leaving readers unable to leave a comment on any post published after you change this setting.
The third setting option with regards to the display of comments is the "Comment Form Placement" section. This section determines how the comments form appears on your blog. The first option, "Full Page," takes readers to a completely new web page when they click on the "Comments" link attached to your post. The second option, "Pop-up Window," keeps readers on the same page, but creates a pop-up window in which the comment form appears. The third option, "Embedded Below Post<" places the comment form below individual posts with no extra clicks required by your readers.
The final setting option that affects how comments look on your blog is at the very bottom of the "Comments" settings section. It's called "Comment Form Message." Next to this is a text box. You can write a message in this text box that will appear on the form every time a reader leaves a comment. - If your blog is set to public, then anyone can read it, regardless of whether they have a Blogger account. But by changing the setting in this section, you can control who can comment on your blog posts. Blogger offers four levels of commenting security: "Anyone," "Registered Users," "Users with Google Accounts" and "Only Members of this Blog." The first option is the least secure of the four; it allows anyone to leave a comment on your site. The "Registered Users" and "Users with Google Accounts" options are slightly more secure; they limit commenting to individuals with certain accounts, such as Open ID, Blogger.com, Google Accounts and in some cases Facebook. "Only Members of this Blog" is the most secure option; this prevents everyone but the blog owners -- whom you can add inside the "Permissions" setting section -- to comment on posts.
A second way to increase your blog's security is by turning on comment moderation; this means you will have to read and approve a comment before it is published to your website. You can opt to turn comment moderation off completely, keep it turned on always or to only use it on certain posts -- for example, on posts that were published more than a specific number of days prior.
The final way to up your blog's security is by turning on word verification. If you turn it on, anyone trying to leave a comment will have to enter a CAPTCHA code correctly before their comment will appear on your website. If you turn off word verification, readers will not have to enter this CAPTCHA code; however, this could open up your site to comments from spammers and other malicious users depending on your other security settings. - Backlinks are links that appear at the bottom of your posts and help you keep track of third-party websites that link back to your site. Blogger offers two options to control these backlinks. You can opt to show or hide backlinks on your blog, just as you can opt to show or hide comments altogether. To change this setting, either click the "Show" or the "Hide" box next to the backlinks section under the "Comments" tab.
The second is called "Backlinks Default for Posts." You can either opt to have Blogger create backlinks for new posts or not. Clicking on the not option will hide the backlinks from your post, but they will not prevent other websites from backlinking to yours.
