Weblogs are not just a one-way medium for publishing. With the use of a singular, often conversational voice, enhanced by the loosely coupled nature of the Internet and lightweight syndication formats, weblogs are akin to conversations, regardless of the size and makeup of the audience. "A" writes about something on their mind -- an experience, the news, or a project's status. "B" reads it and expresses their take. "C" finds both posts interesting and notes something A and B has not mentioned and so on.

Not everyone has a weblog (sadly) and not everyone wants to make a post to their weblog for everything they want to say. "This is great. Thank you." is not much of a weblog post. Hence the need for comments.

Weblog comments allow readers to post comments on an entry and engage in a more direct and immediate conversation; this idea originated from the earliest of online community tools -- bulletin boards. Weblog comments differ by organizing the conversation in a single thread. Unlike on a bulletin board, these discussions are typically started by a limited number of individuals, which generally increases the quality of the comments.

Movable Type features a built-in commenting system where the publisher can selectively control which entries are open for comment and moderate them if desired. MT includes functionality to identify "junk" comments either automatically through plug-ins or manually by using the CMS interface. In many respects the junk concept is similar to the filters in most modern email applications that screen out unwanted messages.

Comment Listing Screen

The Comments Listing screen displays all the published and unpublished comments for a weblog or the system. This is the screen in which comment moderation is managed. Use the Comments button on the Weblog or System Toolbars

1 Comments Tab. Displays a listing of comments that are published and queued for moderation

2 Junk Comments Tab. Displays a listing of comments that have been marked junk either manually or by the plug-in system

3 Filter. A dynamic control to filter the list of comments.

4 Quick Filter. A link that sets the filter to only display comments awaiting moderation.

5 Comment Checkbox. A control for marking the corresponding row to indicate that an action should be performed on it.

6 Comment Flag. An icon indicating the status of the comment in the system.

7 Comment Summary. The beginning of the comment that is linked to open the Edit Comment Screen.

8 Commenter. The name of the commenter that is linked to the Edit Commenter screen.

9 Entry Title. The title of the comment's associated entry that is linked to its Edit Entry Screen

10 Date. The date the comment was submitted.

11 Publish Button. Releases the checked comments awaiting moderation.

12 Delete Button. Permanently removes the checked comments from the system.

13 Junk Button. Marks the checked comments as junk.

14 More Actions Pulldown Menu. Additional actions such as unpublishing a comment, banning a commenter or marking one as trusted.

15 Display Options. A control for setting what and how list elements are displayed in the screen.

graphic Comment Listing Screen

Edit Comment Screen

The Edit Comment screen is used to modify an existing comment in the system. This screen can be reach by clicking on a title found on the Comments Listing screen.

1 Comment Text. The body of the comment.

2 Status. A pulldown menu to denote the comment as either published, moderated or junk.

3 Commenter Name. The name of the commenter.

4 Commenter Email. The email address of the commenter if provided.

5 Commenter URL. The website URL of the commenter if provided.

6 Comment Date. The date the comment was submitted.

7 IP. The network address of the commenter when the comment was submitted.

8 Save Changes Button. Saves any modification to the comment and republishes the entry.

9 Delete Button. Permanently removes the comment from the system.

graphic Edit Comment Screen

Commenters Listing Screen

The Commenters Listing Screen displays all authenticated users of the weblog. This screen can be reached by clicking the Commenters button on the Weblog Toolbar.

graphic Comment Listing Screen

1 Filter. A dynamic control to filter the list of comments.

2 Quick Filter. A link that sets the filter to only display comments awaiting moderation.

3 Commenter Flag. An icon indicating the status of the commenter in the system.

4 Commenter. The name of the commenter that is linked to the Edit Commenter screen.

5 Identity. The username of the commenter in the authentication system.

6 Email. An icon that, when clicked, will open a new email message with the commenter's address. This icon will not be present if a commenter has not supplied their email address.

7 URL. An icon that will open a new browser window with the commenter's URL when clicked. This icon will not be present if a commenter has not supplied one.

8 Comments. The number of comments the user has made on the weblog.

9 Most Recent Comment. The date the commenter last posted a comment to the weblog.

10 Trust Button. Designates all of the checked commenters as trusted.

11 Ban Button. Restricts the checked commenters from further postings on the weblog.

12 More Actions Pulldown Menu. Additional actions such as Unban and Untrust a commenter.

13 Display Options. A control for setting what and how list elements are displayed in the screen.