Comment form block editor
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The comment form on a site I moderate has suddenly changed to having blocks in it. It is also sometime autoformatting Twitter etc links as HTML, rather than embedding them. These issues were previously raised Nov 2023, as per the link below. Is there any way to turn off this functionality, and revert the comment form back to how it was previously (a ‘plain’ text box)?
https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/comments-form-woes/
A comment form does not require the same technical aspects as a post form.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hello there, I understand the desire for simplicity, I really do, and it’s still possible to post only a text comment (type, carriage return*, type…), but our comment form now includes embeds for twitter, images, youtubes and more. Just type / (forward slash) and a whole world opens up.
I do understand that some folks might find this change confusing, maybe even intimidating. But, do it once and you’ve mastered it.
(*carriage return: I think I just dated myself…)
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It already auto-embedded Twitter etc. What you’ve done is made it needlessly complicated and hidden functionality behind random key presses.
it now randomly formats Twitter links as html links for some people and properly embeds them for others. It’s making things harder to use.
And I’ve just noticed that, when typing on mobile, a new block starts with a lower case letter, not upper case. Going from strength to strength.
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out of interest , how many people do you actually think, know what “type / to choose a block” means? Most people just want to write a reply.
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People just can start typing their reply. Mind several people have been asking for more functionality in the comment block.
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Just noting that everyone here answering is a fellow site owner/member of WordPress.com and not staff. So “we” aren’t doing anything. The new comment box comes to us via Jetpack, which is the only commenting system available to us without having the Creator or Entrepreneur plan.
As both @staartmees and I have mentioned, if all your commenters want to do is leave a text comment, just type in the comment box. If they want to add embeds (x or youtube and now many more options), your commenters will need to use the embed block by typing a forward slash. Again, do it once and you’ve mastered it.
it now randomly formats Twitter links as html links for some people and properly embeds them for others. It’s making things harder to use.
If there is an issue with the embed block in comments, that is something that support should know about. Can you link to an example on your site where the embed block is failing? Thanks.
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the actual process for leaving a comment, now, is click into the comment box. Then wait while it loads a comment block and allows you to start typing (or you’ll lose letters). If you’re on a mobile device, remember to press back-space first, or you’ll begin with a lower case letter (as at the start of here).
if you’re adding a YouTube video, it now auto generates the embed when you paste, so I hope you don’t have to adjust a timestamp, if you’re linking like that – something I did the other day. I couldn’t see how to get the URL back, so had to edit it in notepad.
WP have made it *less* intuitive and more confusing to post a simple comment. 👏👏👏🤬
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You know, looking again at the layout of the newer comment box, all I see are really basic formatting options that commenters don’t even need to use unless they want to. (Alignment, Bold, Italic and Link). If there is a delay before the box appears, that might be related to connectivity or whether your commenter is logged in or not.
My feeling from what you’ve written is that you and your commenters are having difficulties specifically with embeds, and maybe even only on mobile (?).
If you are interested in getting some help with that, again, please link to comments on your site where these issues appears.
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This is a recent post that did Twitter as a link, rather than embedding
It WAS racism. All along….
the delay with the comment box activating happens for me on mobile, desktop and with wired or wireless connections.
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That link card should have been to the first post on the second page of comments, but it cut that part off when it embedded. https://ephemerid213andfriends.wordpress.com/2024/03/13/it-was-racism-all-along/comment-page-2/#comment-181247
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Thanks for adding that link.
Hopefully staff can have a look and help us understand what’s happening with twitter embeds.
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Arghhh! It’s getting worse. Posting on mobile, if I write a comment and then paste a link into a second block (so it actually works), I can’t then copy ALL of the text at the same time. It will only allow me to select the text in one block at a time.
Then, if I’m trying to past in text and a link from somewhere else, that were on separate lines, it merges it all together and the link becomes the end of the last word of the text. You have to find the join and press [enter] on it.
It’s such a bad way of handling simple comment entry.
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@refitman Sorry for the delay in investigating this issue!
I took the Twitter/X link from the linked comment and tested it using both the Twitter embed block (by typing
/twitterin the comment editor) and by simply posting the link to the tweet in the comment box and it embedded properly for me both times (using the Strand theme and the default Twenty theme).I think the issue may be that the theme your using (Affinity) was retired in August 2019 and isn’t fully compatible with the modern version of WordPress and the comment editor. Retired themes aren’t updated to work with the newest versions of WordPress, so that is likely the issue here, since it used to work previously. If you decide to look at a new theme, I’d recommend viewing the theme demo before switching as you would not be able to switch back to Affinity if you change your mind.
I hope that clarifies things! Let us know if you have any other questions.
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Hello
Thanks for replying. The twitter embeds work now on both the sites that I regularly visit. However all the other issues I have mentioned – the pause while the comment box activates, starting off lower case on mobile, not being able to copy ALL blocks from a comment box on mobile – are still present.
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Oh, snap! New Discussion settings, too! LOL These are available on the website, but I do not know if available in the mobile app.
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Oh goodness, that’s wonderful. I’ve turned that off, on the site I’m an admin for, and I can confirm it also works on mobile.
Thank you for posting this, this will make my life (and I’m sure a lot of others) a lot more bearable.
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