How to Feel Stupid
I’ve written a ton of pieces about how to get comments on your blog. I knew I was doing all the right things. I knew I was getting plenty of readers because of my lijit stats. So what was the deal?
The ‘Duh’ Moment
It’s kind of like the first time I realized soft drinks were called “soft drinks” because they are the opposite of “hard drinks” containing liquor. That kind of brainstorm is deeply unsatsifying. It doesn’t make me feel smart. It makes me feel stupid!
Well here is another brain fart that came out of me today… I could not figure out why this blog in particular was not eliciting comments. I get them all the time elsewhere on the net. Where the hell are they?
Well, duh. If the comment box is not open and showing, no one is going to take the time to click on that tiny little “comments” link.
Here’s how to make sure you always have an open comments form under every one of your posts:
You need to tell WordPress to place an open comment form on every php file that contains posts. In my theme they were:
Archive Page Template (archivepage.php)
Archives (archive.php)
Main Index Template (index.php)
Page Template (page.php)
By default, wordpress only places an open comments form on single posts. Look for the following code:
<div>
<?php the_content(); ?>
</div></div>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
You want to insert the following codejust after </div> and before <?php endwhile; endif; ?>. Buy using the CTRL F feature with the word “endwhile,” you can find every instance and insert the code. It can sometimes be on more than one place in a php file. Don’t put it on your archives page if it only displays snippets of your posts. That’s u-g-l-y.
<?php
$withcomments = “1″;
comments_template();
?>
Not noticing this simple mistake on KillFive.com made me feel exceedingly stupid.
