Edenwald & Baychester Alumni

Following the path "new" > "comments" on the administration page of a particular blog, you have acccess to three features. You can order alert emails for every new comment made, display the five most recent comments on your weblog and order a resume of all the latest news via email. Whether you're updated daily, weekly or monthly is totally up to you.

You always have the choice to allow others to comment on your weblog or single entries. You can authorize comments for all internet users, for registered users only or even prohibit any comments.
The authorization for each entry can be determined while editing your blog ("Entries" > "New entry" for a new entry or "Entries" > "Edit entries" and modify an existing entry). You can then find comment settings beneath the text area of your editor.
Instead of changing comment settings every time you write a new entry, you can update the default settings for your weblog at "Weblog" -> "More options..." -> "Entry settings".
You can also protect yourself from unwanted comments with this feature. In general, receiving comments is a great idea, because it gives you a chance to interact with other users as well as receive feedback on the posts you make. Plus, if you don't open your posts to other users, you won't be able to receive stars - Edenwald & Baychester Alumni's virtual candy (if enabled by your system administrator)!

Deleting comments will make comments on your weblog invisible. If you delete a comment, the text will be substituted by "----" and the note "deleted by weblog owner or author" will appear in its place. This allows you to trace who made a comment at a certain stage of discussion without showing the unwanted text. Editing your entry and then blocking comments makes all comments invisible, although others will still be able to see the entry. When you choose this option, the comments have not been deleted. If you reinstate comments on that particular entry, the old comments will be visible again.

In order to follow the flow of a discussion, a deleted comment will remain visible. Only the text of the content will be deleted - the author's name and the time the comment was made are still visible.

See also:
» How to delete or make received comments invisible

The best thing to do is continue the thread by adding your own comment and referring to the statement given by the other commentator. Or, you can address them by username so they know the response is meant for them.

With comment tracking activated, you find an overview of new comments in your blogs at "Community -> Comments". You can directly access this page from your Dashboard by clicking on the speach bubble icon of the corresponding weblog.
If you have not activated comment tracking, you need to click on the small icon on the right hand side of the "Comments in this Weblog" headline. This directs you to the "Settings for comment tracking" page. There, you need to tick "Activate comment tracking" and save your settings. Also, you can choose whether you would like to receive an instant e-mail upon new comments, or display the 5 most recent comments on your weblog (thus being visible for your readers).

It is usually possible to contact other registered users by email. Just go to their weblog and click "more about me". Here you should find the link "write me an email" - if the user has activated this feature. If they do not wish to be contacted by email, the link will not appear. It's also easy to email commentators on your entries. You will find the link right below each comment.

Your star account shows your stock of Edenwald & Baychester Alumni stars. Stars are a virtual treat you can award or receive for good entries. Every time you comment on a weblog you have the option to award one or two stars to the owner of the blog. Your star account decreases by the amount of sweets given out while the account of the receiver increases. When you create your blog, you will receive five stars to get you started. Once you get blogging you'll collect stars from readers who enjoy your posts or feel you deserve a treat. The level of your star stock is displayed at "Community -> More options -> General data".

See also:
» How does the star account work?
» What is the star level?

The star account shows your available stock of sweets. When you receive a star your stock increases, and when you award a star it decreases.

See also:
» What is the star account?
» What is the star level?

The star level represents the sum of all received stars. Whenever you receive a star your star account rises, and whenever you award one the total declines. The star level is different. It represents all the sweets you've been awarded while you have been a registered user. There is a difference between weblog based awards and user based awards. The star level of a weblog is displayed on the administration page of the particular weblog at "Community->More options...->General data".

Please also check out:
» What is the star account?
» How does the star account work?

Awarding stars for great entries is an incentive for the weblog owner to continue creating superb content.
See also:
» What is the star account?
» What is the star level?

If you comment on other weblogs on a regular basis, it is important not to lose track. If activated, the progress of a discussion that you've joined on other weblogs is displayed under "Community -> Comments" on the right hand side (in the box "Discussions on other blogs").
After you've posted your own comment, all further comments in the thread would be tracked there.
It is also possible to activate a personal email alert so you're notified of new comments.
You can activate this feature by clicking on the icon right next to the "Discussions on other blogs" headline, which directs you to "Follow discussions in other weblogs" settings. There, you can choose whether you want to read the comments on the aforementioned page, or if you want to have an e-mail sent to you upon each new comment in that thread.

With comment tracking activated, you find an overview of new comments in your blogs at "Community -> Comments". You can directly access this page from your Dashboard by clicking on the speach bubble icon of the corresponding weblog.
If you have not activated comment tracking, you need to click on the small icon on the right hand side of the "Comments in this Weblog" headline. This directs you to the "Settings for comment tracking" page. There, you need to tick "Activate comment tracking" and save your settings. Also, you can choose whether you would like to receive an instant e-mail upon new comments, or display the 5 most recent comments on your weblog (thus being visible for your readers).

Usually, when you allow comments for your entries, new comments are automatically published. If you would rather like to control what comments are published on your blog, you can enable comment moderation. Once enabled, new comments will only be visibile to you when you are logged in. You need to go to the corresponding entry where you find the comment and a link "Publish". Only when you have published the comment they are visible to the public.
This might be useful if you are on vacation and want to avoid inappropriate content to be published during your absence.
If you have comment notifications enabled, you will see unpublished comments highlighted on your comment overview page. However you cannot publish them on that page, yet you have to access that comment to read it and can then publish it.

See also:
How can I enable comment moderation?
Is there an overview for received comments?

Go to "Webog -> More options -> Entry settings". On the bottom of that page you find a section "Comment Moderation". There, you can enable or disable comment moderation for future comments.
Please note, that by disabling comment moderation you do not publish any unpublished comments, yet merely upcoming comments will be published directly. You still need to publish previous comments.

See also:
How does comment moderation work?