Few things are more frustrating for a blogger than opening up their latest post, scrolling down to check for new comments, and seeing…nothing. If you‘re using the popular Disqus commenting system on your WordPress site, disappearing comments can leave you scratching your head.
But don‘t panic! In most cases, a few simple tweaks in your WordPress and Disqus settings will get those precious comments flowing again. As a blogging expert who has set up Disqus on dozens of WordPress sites, I‘ve put together this comprehensive guide to troubleshoot all the common culprits behind missing Disqus comments.
Whether your Disqus widget has vanished completely or only some comments have gone AWOL, follow the steps below in order. By the end, your blog should be a lively hub of discussion once more. Let‘s dive in and get those comments back where they belong!
Step 1: Make Sure Comments Are Enabled Site-Wide in WordPress
The first thing to check is that you haven‘t accidentally disabled comments across your entire WordPress site. It happens to the best of us! Here‘s how to make sure comments are turned on:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > Discussion
- Under "Default post settings", make sure "Allow people to submit comments on new posts" is checked
- Click "Save Changes" if you had to enable the setting
With comments now enabled site-wide, the Disqus comment widget should appear at the bottom of your posts. If it‘s still missing, move on to the next step.
Step 2: Verify Comments Are Enabled on Individual Posts
You can turn off comments on a post-by-post basis in WordPress. If Disqus is MIA on a specific post, make sure comments are enabled for that post:
- Edit the post in the WordPress editor
- In the "Document" settings on the right, scroll down to "Discussion"
- Check the box for "Allow comments" if it‘s unchecked
- Update or publish the post to apply the change
Repeat this for any other posts where Disqus comments are missing. If the widget is still nowhere to be seen, there are a few more things to try.
Step 3: Check the Disqus Plugin Settings
By default, the official Disqus WordPress plugin is set to display the comment widget on all posts. But if the plugin settings got changed, that could explain your missing comments. Here‘s how to check:
- In WordPress, go to Comments > Disqus
- Click the "Plugin Settings" button on the right
- Under "Comment Syncing", make sure "Sync comments automatically" is selected
- Under "Appearance", choose "All blog posts" for where Disqus comments appear
- Click "Save Changes" if you adjusted any settings
With the optimal plugin configuration locked in, let‘s make sure your WordPress comments are synced up with Disqus.
Step 4: Export Comments From WordPress to Disqus
When you first set up Disqus, you likely exported your existing WordPress comments so they would appear in Disqus. But if something went wrong with the initial sync, your old comments may seem to have vanished. Fear not, we can re-sync them:
- Go to Comments > Disqus in WordPress
- Under "Import and Export", click the "Export Comments" button
- You‘ll see a progress bar as your comments are sent over to Disqus
- Leave the page open until the export is 100% complete
Once the export finishes, check your posts to see if the missing comments now appear. If some comments are still lost in the void, the problem may be related to changed post URLs.
Step 5: Use the Disqus Redirect Crawler If You Changed Permalinks With Proper Redirects
Disqus matches comments to posts based on the post URL. So if you change the URL permalink structure or slugs of posts after Disqus is already set up, existing comments on those posts can seem to disappear.
If you used proper 301 redirects to point the old post URLs to the new ones, you‘re in luck. The Disqus redirect crawler can automatically update the URLs for you:
- Sign in to your Disqus admin panel at disqus.com/admin
- Go to Community > Tools > Migration Tools
- Next to "Redirect Crawler", click "Start Crawler"
The crawler will scan your site, follow any 301 redirects, and reattach comments to the new post URLs. Check back in a few hours to confirm the missing comments reappear.
Step 6: Manually Map Old URLs to New URLs With the Disqus URL Mapper
But what if you changed post URLs without adding 301 redirects? In that case, the redirect crawler won‘t work. Instead, you can give Disqus the new URL for each post using the URL mapper tool:
- In your Disqus admin panel, go to Community > Tools > Migration Tools
- Click the "Start URL Mapper" button
- Create a CSV file with two columns: the old post URLs in the first column, and the corresponding new URLs in the second column
- Upload the CSV to the URL mapper tool
- Click "Next" to start the remapping process
For sites with a large number of posts, Disqus recommends breaking the CSV into smaller files with no more than 500 URL pairs each. The remapping can take up to 24 hours to complete, so be patient!
Step 7: Migrate Disqus Comments to a New Domain
Did you recently move your WordPress site to a new domain? Migrating a site is always a hassle, and Disqus comments aren‘t automatically carried over to the new domain. You‘ll need to use the Disqus domain migration tool:
- In the Disqus admin panel, navigate to Community > Tools > Migration Tools
- Under "Domain Migration", select your old domain from the drop-down menu
- Enter the new domain you want to migrate comments to
- Click "Next", then confirm you want to start the migration
- Allow up to 24 hours for the comments to appear on your new domain
If you‘ve completed all the steps above and still have missing comments, there may be an issue on Disqus‘s end. Time to call in reinforcements!
Step 8: Get Help From Disqus Support
99% of the time, one of the troubleshooting steps in this guide will get your missing Disqus comments back. But if you‘re still having problems, don‘t suffer in silence. The Disqus support squad is ready to help:
- Check the Disqus Status Blog to see if there are any known outages or issues
- Search the Disqus Knowledge Base for solutions to common problems
- If you can‘t find an answer, post a new topic in the Disqus Support Forum
- For urgent issues, contact the Disqus Support Team directly and open a ticket
Wrapping Up
Missing Disqus comments can be incredibly irritating, especially when you‘re not sure why they disappeared. But with this step-by-step troubleshooting guide, you‘ve got the tools to track down and recover errant comments.
Whether you need to adjust WordPress settings, tweak your Disqus configuration, or update URLs after site changes, following this checklist will ensure you get your comments back. And in the rare case the problem lies with Disqus itself, you know exactly where to turn for expert backup.
I hope this guide spares you many headaches and gets your blog buzzing with discussion again in no time. Here‘s to never letting another Disqus comment slip through the cracks!
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