Spam & Moderation
Comments → Convocept → Spam & moderation shows how many comments are waiting for review (the sidebar counts them too) and the protection in place. There is nothing to set up: the checks are on for every site.
Spam protection
These checks run on every comment, without asking readers to solve anything:
| Check | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hidden trap field for bots | A field people never see. A comment that fills it in goes straight to spam. |
| Minimum time to write a comment | A comment sent within 3 seconds of the form appearing is held for review. The form carries a signed token, so the time can't be faked. |
| Link limit | A comment with as many links as the Discussion link limit (default 2) is held for review. WordPress counts HTML links; Convocept also counts links written in Markdown. |
| Limits on how fast one visitor can post | Per-visitor limits on posting, editing, previews, upvotes and subscriptions. |
| Akismet | Shows whether Akismet is active. |
On top of these, every comment goes through WordPress's own rules from Settings → Discussion: the moderation list, the disallowed-words list, the link limit and "hold for approval". Comments are posted through core's comment handling, so Akismet, Antispam Bee and other anti-spam plugins check them as usual.
A held comment is never lost: it waits in Comments → Pending. When one of Convocept's own checks (trap field, timing or links) held or flagged it, the core Comments screen says which in a Convocept column, next to the comment's upvotes and pin.
Rate limits
| Action | Per visitor |
|---|---|
| Posting a comment | 5 per minute, 30 per hour |
| Editing a comment | 10 per minute |
| Previewing | 30 per minute |
| Upvoting | 30 per minute |
| Subscribing without commenting | 5 per 10 minutes |
Developers can change or turn off any limit with convocept_rate_limit.
Behind Cloudflare or a load balancer?
Rate limits and spam checks use the visitor's IP address. Behind a proxy, every visitor looks like the proxy until you add it under Advanced → Trusted proxies.
Waiting for review
Shows how many comments are waiting for approval, with a Review comments button that opens Comments → Pending.
Moderating in the thread
Users who can moderate comments get a ⋯ (Moderate) menu on every comment, right in the thread:
| Action | Does |
|---|---|
| Approve | Publish a comment that is waiting for approval. |
| Pin to top / Unpin | Keep an approved top-level comment at the top of the thread. |
| Edit in dashboard | Open the comment in the WordPress editor. |
| Mark as spam | Mark as spam (and teach Akismet). |
| Move to trash | Move to the trash. |
Moderators also see the post's comments waiting for approval in the thread, marked as pending: new top-level comments at the top, and replies under their comment when it is on the current page.
The core Comments screen works as before, with Convocept's comments in it like any other.
For developers
convocept_moderation_checks— add, replace or remove a check.convocept_before_submit— reject a submission with your own message.convocept_min_submit_seconds— change the 3-second minimum, or0to turn it off.convocept_rate_limit— adjust or disable a rate limit.