When I first started managing my WordPress site, I noticed that every new post automatically allowed comments. At first, it seemed great I wanted interaction but soon spam comments started appearing, and some pages didn’t need comments at all. That’s when I realized I needed to disable comments on WordPress.
If you’re a beginner struggling with unwanted comments or spam, I’ll walk you through exactly how I handled it.
Why I Decided to Disable Comments
I disabled comments for a few reasons:
- Spam prevention: Some posts were attracting irrelevant or spammy comments.
- Clean design: Certain pages, like my homepage or landing pages, didn’t need comment sections.
- Better management: I wanted to focus on content without spending time moderating comments.
You might want to disable comments for similar reasons, and WordPress makes it easy.
Disabling Comments on New Posts
The first thing I did was stop comments from appearing automatically on new posts. Here’s how:
- Went to Settings > Discussion in my WordPress dashboard.
- Unticked the box “Allow people to post comments on new articles.”
- Saved changes.
After this, new posts no longer had comment sections, which saved me from moderating spam in the future.
Disabling Comments on Existing Posts
I had dozens of existing posts with comments enabled. I didn’t want to edit each one individually, so I used a bulk edit method:
- Went to Posts > All Posts.
- Selected the posts I wanted to edit.
- Clicked Bulk Actions > Edit > Apply.
- Changed the Comments dropdown to Do not allow.
- Updated the posts.
This method quickly disabled comments on multiple posts at once.
Disabling Comments on Pages
I also noticed that pages like About, Contact, and Services had comment sections by default. I disabled them by:
- Editing the page in WordPress.
- Clicking Discussion in the settings panel.
- Unticking Allow comments.
- Updating the page.
Some themes hide the discussion panel by default, so I enabled Screen Options at the top to make it visible.
Using a Plugin to Disable Comments Completely
If you want a site-wide solution, I found the “Disable Comments” plugin very helpful. It allowed me to:
- Remove comment forms from posts, pages, and media
- Disable comments on future posts automatically
- Clean up old comments
This is especially useful for websites where interaction isn’t needed, like portfolios, landing pages, or business sites.
Common Mistakes I Almost Made
At first, I almost:
- Only disabled comments on new posts but forgot old ones
- Missed pages or media files where comments were still enabled
- Edited theme files unnecessarily, which could break the site
Using WordPress settings and a plugin prevented these mistakes.
Final Thoughts on Disabling Comments
Disabling comments on WordPress is simple once you know the options. You can control comments for new posts, existing posts, pages, and even your entire site using a plugin.
After I disabled comments where needed, my site looked cleaner, and I spent less time moderating spam. For beginners managing their first WordPress site, this small change makes a big difference in site management and user experience.