Comments can enhance a blog in many ways. They convert a monologue into a discussion and build community. Besides, they can give a minor boost to SEO as search engines index the comments as well. So, why would anyone want to disable comments in WordPress?
Mostly because comments can often be self promotional, spammy and sometimes hurtful. More than that, moderating comments can eat into your productive time.
But it’s also true that a post devoid of comments somehow seems incomplete and therefore, many websites welcome comments with open hands.
Good and bad reasons to disable comments in WordPress
Some websites, especially newspapers like CNN and Reuters receive bucketfuls of comments. They’ve worked around the volume problem by shifting comments to social platforms. This can work in your favor too and in many ways – it takes controversial comments away from your blog and doesn’t impact it directly. Moreover, social media is somewhat self regulatory and can cut down on inappropriate comments on its own.
Another reason for disabling comments could be to improve your load times. Let’s not forget that each comment requires yet another database ask/request, which simply takes time and adds up. That being said, before you go extreme and disable comments in WordPress completely for performance reasons, look into the concept of lazy loading for your comments section.
Also, if comments are an important part of your blog, you may perhaps be aware that a number of plugins are available to improve your WordPress comments section.
Lastly, if your site is receiving loads of comments, starting a forum to improve interaction amongst readers is a good idea also.
Disable comments in WordPress using standard dashboard settings
By default, WordPress enables comments on all posts, and disables comments on all pages. You can change this to disable / enable comments completely (site wide), or selectively on some posts and pages. You can also regulate comments in many ways using the options in the Settings page.
The place to start managing comments is Settings > Discussion in your WordPress Dashboard.
1. To stop comments on all future posts (and pages):
Uncheck the option “allow people to post comments on articles”. You can also disable pingbacks and trackbacks here. This will stop comments and pings entirely on all future posts on your site. (Pages are disabled by default).