Subscribe to Comments 2.1
Subscribe to Comments 2.1 is a plugin that allows commenters on your blog to check a box before commenting and get e-mail notification of further comments. It is one of the most popular WordPress plugins out there for the simple reason that it helps foster a community around your blog by encouraging commenters to come back and stay engaged in the dialog.
Features
- Rudimentary security
- Users cannot enter a random e-mail into the subscription manager and modify someone else’s subscriptions
- In order to modify subscriptions, users need to use a special link, given in notification e-mails, and printed in the comments form as long as they have their comment cookie
- Recognition of subscription status
- Unsubscribed users see the “subscribe to comments” checkbox, but subscribed users see a “Manage your subscriptions” link
- The author of the post is recognized by either login or comment cookie and is assumed to be subscribed to the entry (as they will receive notifications through WordPress)
- Themeable subscription manager
- Uses visual style of WordPress interface
- Can be optionally accessed via “Manage” menu in WordPress
- E-mail verification of block requests
- Javascript “invert selection” link to check/uncheck subscriptions for mass deletion
- “Return to the page you were viewing” link that persists at the top of the page, so that users can easily return to the post they were reading once they are done modifying subscriptions
- Ability to let users change notification e-mail address
- In the subscription manager, users can request that their notification address be changed for all their subscriptions
- Special link is sent to the old address for verification
- Once clicked, their e-mail address will be changed instantly for all their comments
- Easy integration into comments form
- No modification of comments form needed for WP 1.5+ (supported themes)
- For users who want custom placement of the checkbox/link to subscription manager, this can be done with one simple function call, placed anywhere in the comment form
- Subscription without leaving a comment
- By popular demand, you can now offer visitors the option of subscribing to comments on an entry without having to leave a comment themselves
- If the reader later decides to join the conversation, their subscription continues without them having to explicitly set it
- Customization
- You can make the Subscription Manager that your users see use your theme’s header, footer and sidebar, using CSS to style it to fit your site
- Internationalization
- I’ve written Subscribe to Comments 2.1 with i18n in mind, making full use of
__()and_e()functions. The domain is “subscribe-to-comments”.
- I’ve written Subscribe to Comments 2.1 with i18n in mind, making full use of
Download
Version 2.1 Update
Version 2.1 of Subscribe to Comments has a feature that people have been begging me to implement for many months: you can view the list of people who are subscribed to posts on your blog, and you can also see a list of the most “subscribed” posts. Also in this version is a new one-file install. You just put subscribe-to-comments.php in your /plugins/ directory, activate, and you’re done. This version will work on WordPress versions from 2.0.6 through 2.3.1 (highest tested).
Versions
- 2.1.2 Fixed a few bugs that’d send bad notifications (thanks Donncha!), cleaned up some code and moved to using proper WP escaping functions
- 2.1.1 WordPress 2.2 compatibility! Also note that support for
attribute_escape()is needed, so if you get errors about that, upgrade to the latest version in your branch - 2.1 big update, fixing a few potential XSS holes, and misc error messages… see above for details
- 2.0.8 XSS security fixes, hopefully fixed “+” symbols in e-mail for good
- 2.0.7 additional “funky e-mail” fixes
- 2.0.6 support for e-mail addresses with “+” symbols, option to disable CSS “clearing”
- 2.0.4 potential security bugs, better WP 2.0 capabilities compat
Feedback/Bugs
Feel free to leave bug reports or feature requests here. Use this entry’s comments to ask support questions or offer general feedback
I’ve spent a lot of time writing this code and supporting it. If you derive some benefit from this code, please consider showing your gratitute in a more tangible
way. Thanks!
I have received $30.00 this month for my coding efforts.
I had some issues with 2.2 and with Mark’s help through the site resolved them. Thanks to Mark for his help, and for this excellent, free plugin.
And to anyone getting this error:
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: attribute_escape()This means that you’re running an older, definitely insecure version of WordPress. As of this writing, you should be running either WordPress 2.0.10 or WordPress 2.2.1
great apps
Thanks Mark!
I really look forward to the new version of Subscribe to Comments plugin that will work with Wordpress 2.2.x.
Sherman
Liked it from description but found a couple of problem comments.
I have subscribed, if I get emails from here, I will try it straight away.
Schanie
Thanks!
Doesn’t work on my site,
I’m seeing only a checkbox.
http://www.italianswaad.in
After upgrading to 2.2.1, I gave the plugin a shot and it behaves like the other guys are describing — all I see is a checkbox and no text. It looks like it would have been a nice plugin. I’ll check back in a few weeks.
ok…this plugin DOES work, but it’s not immediately clear that there are no problems due to the lack of meaningful (or any) defaults for the text that should be displayed. I guess most of us were expecting it to work as soon as we activated it and it’s currently misleading. What’s needed is some text (ie. “Notify me of follow up comments via e-mail”) to be entered in the Not Subscribed text box under Options | Subscribe to Comments area in WP. Another meaningful default that should be present is having the text “You are subscribed to be notified of follow up comments by email” in the Subscribed text box. This would be immensely helpful so new users aren’t mislead into thinking the plugin is broken. There’s also a text box for Entry Author, but I have no idea what’s that for or where it’s displayed. I’m still experimenting and becoming acquainted with the plugin. That said…this is a very nice plugin. Thanks!
Here’s strange behavior:
WP > Options > Subscribe to Comments worked as expected before I moved my site from a sub-directory to the main directory of my site. Now in my main directory, WP > Options > Subscribe to Comments displays the same page as WP > Manage > Subscriptions. The sub-menu name even changes to “Subscriptions” after I click on WP > Options > “Subscribe to Comments”
In summary I can’t change the options page anymore. Luckily I had added the text next to the checkbox (as described in Axil’s comment above), before I moved my site.
Is it possible to set the default for the Subscribe checkbox to “checked” so people are subscribed automatically, unless they uncheck the box?
I’ve seen this be the case on other peoples’ blogs, and want to try it out.
Thanks for this plugin, however after I’ve configured it and added the PHP code to show the checkbox, I see nothing like others that hat WP 2.2. I’m waiting for the update as well.
Thanks!!
.
Another guy anxiously awaiting an update. On 2.1.2 I see no errors but subscribers simply do not get any emails. It worked before we upgraded WP to 2.1.2.
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Thanks for the sweet plugin.
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Good site!
I am trying to test the subscription function
Thanks forthis great Plugin !
I just uploaded and activated your plugin. I have
the line ID); ?> in my comments.php and a checkbox shows up. But there is no text next to the checkbox. And in my admin menu I get no options where I could change the text that appears next to the checkbox. I only get the Comment Subscription Manager with
Find Subscriptions.
Did I miss something?
If I put in do I need to delete the other bit of code?
Also, as I’m running a bilingual blog I need the missing text to be both in German and in English. Is there any way to do that?
Thank you for your help!
To me setting this up this not very intuitive and there are really no instructions for everything on the “Subscribe to Comments Options†form. Do I need to set up a page for the Subscription Manager? What is the [message_link]? What are the classes used for the Subscription Manager? What needs to be in “HTML for before the subscription manager†and “HTML for after the subscription manager†blocks? I guess if I knew if a page needs to be set up the HTML many be more clear.
I was able to figure everything out except how to find the right url to insert for the subscription manager. I have no idea what “[manager_link]” is.
This doesn’t work with my WP-2.2.2-alpha (wordpress.org SVN). I had to do the following:
Index: subscribe-to-comments.php
===================================================================
— subscribe-to-comments.php (revision 15373)
+++ subscribe-to-comments.php (working copy)
@@ -710,7 +710,7 @@
}
if ( !$settings['clear_both'] ) {
- $settings['clear_both'] = ‘clear_both’;
+ $settings['clear_both'] = ”;
$update = true;
}
I see the light. Sorry for the earlier post but the instructions could be better. The plugin works great!
Is there a place that tells me how to set this up? I have it installed and activated and have no clue how to configure it. There is no indication at my comments that anything is going on. I’m using problogger theme.
Thanks in advance.
@ Lori and maybe some others…I’m not trying to steal the thunder from the author of this plugin. He did a great job on it. But as some of you are noticing…it’s kinda hard to understand exactly how to set this up.
I posted a little set of instructions on setting this up on my blog: http://www.boojies.com/2007/07/08/tips-increase-the-stickiness-of-your-site-with-the-subscribe-comments-plugin/
I went thru the same pain. I hope it helps.
Thanks. It helps a little but I don’t even have the checkmark showing to show that you could subscribe if you wanted to.
@Lori
Then this is different. I’m not sue what is wrong and it suggests that the plugin is not installed correctly. It’s been a while since I installed it and I would take a seoond look at the readme file (if any). Maybe he wants/expects the plugin to be installed in a directory subordinate to plugins. I just can’t remember. What I do remember was that once I installed and activated the plugin, all I got was a blank checkbox. That was the major hurdle for me. Since I’m subscribed to this plugin
I’ll keep tabs on it to see if I can help. But honestly, installing the plugin and getting the blank checkbox was the easy part.
Thanks again.
I have a feeling it has to do with the copyblogger theme. There was another issue with it hard coding (i think someone said that) some aspect of the comment functions and I think that might be going on here too.
Great plugin ..U made it yourself ?? Great job
Using 2.1.1 aas well and my readers too are not getting emails even though they are subscribed.
hope this is fixed soon its a great plugin!
I have been troubleshooting this script all day on my WP 2.1.2 blog and I still cannot come up with what is causing emails to not be sent out to subscribers anymore. PHP Mail() is working on my server so I am beside myself trying to solve this. Where is the code that fires an email when a new comment is made?
Is the author still looking into a solution or should we be looking to another script or custom building one?