Why is my comment waiting for approval?
Updated about 1 month ago
Browse All
A comment that's waiting for approval hasn't been lost or rejected. WordPress is holding it in a review queue, and it will appear on your site as soon as someone approves it.
Find and approve the comments that are waiting
Open Comments in your dashboard, then select Pending to see just the comments on hold. Click Approve under a comment to publish it right away, or Reply to answer it before it goes live.
Let comments through without review
If you don't want to approve comments one at a time, open Settings → Discussion and clear Comment must be manually approved. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page, and new comments will appear on your site the moment they're submitted.
What "awaiting moderation" means
When a comment is held, WordPress shows the person who wrote it a note reading Your comment is awaiting moderation. Only they can see the comment at that point — for everyone else it simply isn't on the page yet. Nothing is deleted: approve it later and it goes live with the date it was submitted.
Why WordPress holds a comment back
Most of the time this is a setting doing its job, not a mistake. In Settings → Discussion, the Comment must be manually approved option sends every new comment to the queue until you say yes. Even with that option off, a couple of other rules can put a comment on hold:
Common reasons a comment is held
- The author hasn't had a comment approved before, and Comment author must have a previously approved comment is turned on.
- The comment contains more links than the number you allow before holding for moderation.
- The comment contains a word or IP address from your moderation list.
How long the wait usually is
There's no timer and no automatic release — a comment sits in the queue until a person approves it. On a small site that's often the same day, as soon as the site owner next opens Comments. If you'd rather not keep checking, turn on A comment is held for moderation under Email me whenever in Settings → Discussion and WordPress will email you whenever something needs a decision.
Tips
- A comment on hold is invisible to visitors, so only the person who wrote it knows it's there.
- If a comment never turns up in Pending, check the Spam and Trash views — those are separate lists.
- Comments stay in the queue indefinitely, so approving last month's batch still works fine.
Summary
A comment waiting for approval is simply one you haven't said yes to yet. It keeps its place under Pending until someone approves it, and then it shows up on your site like any other comment.
Was this article helpful?
Made by supportpages.io — turning pull requests into automated user documentation.
Have a question?
Search our articles, or ask and get an answer straight away.