Activation & Verification

Activation

Once you have installed the plugin, follow these steps to enable the private comment filtering:

1. Log in to your WordPress Admin Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
3. Locate Private Comments in the list.
4. Click the Activate link.

Note: This plugin functions "out of the box." There are no additional settings pages or configuration menus required. Once activated, the visibility restrictions are applied automatically to all post types that support comments.

Verifying the Filter

To ensure the plugin is correctly filtering comments and protecting user privacy, we recommend performing a verification check using different user roles.

1. Verify as an Administrator

Log in as a site Administrator. Navigate to a post with multiple comments.

• Expected Result: You should see all comments. Administrators retain full visibility for moderation purposes.

2. Verify as a Comment Author

1. Log in as a Subscriber or Contributor (User A).
2. Leave a comment on a post.
3. Refresh the page.

• Expected Result: User A should see their own comment. They should not see comments made by other non-administrative users.

3. Verify as a Post Author

1. Log in as the user who originally wrote the post (User B).
2. View the comments section of that specific post.

• Expected Result: User B should see all comments left on their post, as they are the post owner.

4. Verify as a Public Guest

1. Open your site in an Incognito/Private browser window (logged out).
2. Navigate to a post that has existing comments.

• Expected Result: No comments should be visible. The comments area should indicate that there are no comments yet, or simply display the comment form (depending on your theme).

Visibility Summary Reference

| User Role | Can See Own Comments? | Can See Others' Comments? | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Administrator | Yes | Yes | | Post Author | Yes | Yes (on their posts only) | | Comment Author | Yes | No | | Guest / Other Users | No | No |

If you find that comments are still visible to the public after activation, ensure that you have cleared any server-side caching (e.g., Varnish, Nginx FastCGI) or WordPress caching plugins (e.g., W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket), as cached versions of pages may still show old comment data.