Title: Question about comments Last modified: August 18, 2016 --- # Question about comments * [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/) * I have a few older blogs (2.03) that I can’t update yet for various reasons and I want to protect them from the security issue that has been discussed by disabling“ anyone can register” in the options panel. If I do this, is it possible for people to still comment on my posts? * Also, if I enable the anyone can register but not allow anything to get posted without my moderation, can that protect me from the issue? * Thanks in advance. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total) * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433028) * yes, and no. * [Jonathan Landrum](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jonlandrum/) * (@jonlandrum) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433029) * Yes. You can still comment. If you’ve got it set where a user must be logged in to comment, then you will also have to be logged in. For the second question, I don’t know. * Edit: whooami beat me to the punch. * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433030) * Thanks for the quick reply guys, appreciate it. * Just to be clear, when you say “If you’ve got it set where a user must be logged in to comment (I do) , then you will also have to be logged in” * does that mean that I must be logged in to my blog for other people to be able to post? * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433032) * i hope thats not what he means, because thats incorrect. You (the admin) does NOT ever have to be logged in for someone else to comment. They do, *if* you have that option ticked on. * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433035) * Ok, yeah that makes sense, I just looked at one of my blogs on another computer and it says you must be logged in to post * so, how can a random unknown potential poster log in if he can’t register for my blog? what is he loggin in to? * what information is he putting when he logs in to be able to post on my blog? * thanks * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433041) * logging in requires registering. registering requires they (the registering person) provide a valid email address (thats where the password is sent). * Ive yet to see spam from a registered user. * registering also stores the IP used to register in your database. This has come in handy for me before. * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433042) * ok but if I disable “allow anyone to register” then they can’t login right? because they would need to register for my blog first and can’t do it * though i am getting moderateble comment spam from someone who has not registered for my blog so im confused * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433043) * they can login if they have already registered. * They cannot register if you tick that off. Just like it says. * Youre mixing apple and oranges. * _“though i am getting moderateble comment spam from someone who has not registered for my blog so im confused”_ * The above has nothing to do with what we are talking about — this is someone that has NOT registered. * Ive explained how this works, whats still confusing? * commenting is done in 1 of 2 ways: * 1. anonymous (no registeration, thus no login) 2. Registered (has registered, has logged in) * restricting registration today does not affect registrations that occured yesterday, NOR does it keep ppl that have previously registered from logging in tommorow. * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433044) * Well, I’m obviously not understanding you that’s why I am asking the questions. * Anyway, I’ll go over what you wrote. * “they can login if they have already registered.” * registered for what? my blog specifically or any wordpress blog? * “They cannot register if you tick that off. Just like it says.” * I know – thats why I’m asking this all – my question has to do with future potential posters after i deselect “allow anyone to register”, ones that haven’t registered for my blog yet and now cannot. * Maybe my lack of understanding has to do with what I see when I visit my blog on another computer (with anyone can register deselected). I see no way for a user to post unless they log in – there is no comment field that one can use to post anonymously. * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433046) * _“they can login if they have already registered.”_ * registered for what? my blog specifically or any wordpress blog? * :), pardon the sarcasm, but you dont think you would have control over someone else’s blog, right? Yes, your blog. Thats your admin area, it controls your blog. Not mine. 🙂 * _..my question has to do with future potential posters after i deselect “allow anyone to register”, ones that haven’t registered for my blog yet and now cannot._ * Ive answered this. Future potential commenters that have not registered will need to comment anonymously. There are only 2 ways to solve the puzzle. * _Maybe my lack of understanding has to do with what I see when I visit my blog on another computer (with anyone can register deselected). I see no way for a user to post unless they log in – there is no comment field that one can use to post anonymously. _ * If you do not see text fields allowing for someone to leave a comment in a place where you previously saw one for registered users, and the only option you have changed is the registration thing, then thats an issue with your theme, not the way wordpress handles comments. And yes, that would explain alot of your confusion 🙂 * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433047) * oh ok, im using the default theme, does anyone know a fix? * the funny thing is, someone is able to spam me (I moderate the comments) – i dont know how they are submitting the comments cause I see no comment box when logged out and they have not registered or are listed in authors etc * [whooami](https://wordpress.org/support/users/whooami/) * (@whooami) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433049) * _the funny thing is, someone is able to spam me (I moderate the comments) – i dont know how they are submitting the comments cause I see no comment box when logged out and they have not registered or are listed in authors etc_ * what you dont realize though is that even IF the form is missing, comments can still be submitted anonymously. Its not worth explaining, suffice to say that the absence of the comment form doesnt restrict commenting IF you have comments for a particular post enabled. * In other words, prior to ticking that “users must register..” checkbox, you WERE allowing comments anonymously. The spam you got was sent via a script that already has all the info it needs to comments. It doesnt need the help your missing form would provide. * As for a fix, a url to your site would be immensely helpful. * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433055) * Ok, I think the reason that I couldnt see a comment field when logged out was because I had “Users must be registered and logged in to comment” checked (duh). I deselected it and now people can comment. * It seems though that spammers can get around that and force a comment to moderation. Not that big of a deal cause I can delete them just was confused because they are able to post when others can’t. * I’d rather not post the blog – sorry. * thanks for your help though, appreciate it * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433056) * actually, I wasn’t allowing anonoymous posts because I had “users had to be registered and logged in to comment” selected… * I never ticked that box, it was always ticked * the box I was talking about earlier in the thread with regards to ticking and unticking was the one above it – allow anyone to register * Thread Starter [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * (@idner) * [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433062) * ok, I think here is why: * [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/52273?replies=4](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/52273?replies=4) * [http://wordpress.org/support/topic/79886?replies=17](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/79886?replies=17) * they are trackbacks (which look like comments) * thanks again for your help Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total) The topic ‘Question about comments’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Installing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/installation/) * 15 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [idner](https://wordpress.org/support/users/idner/) * Last activity: [19 years, 10 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-about-comments-1/#post-433062) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics