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.

![Find and approve the comments that are waiting](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTAxMjMsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--bfbe3e85c4ffacdc9bb9421784bd6230c473502b/block_review-queue.png)

## 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.

![Let comments through without review](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTAxMTcsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--f79a5af2b70f80d26476348c9fd31975c2ac0069/block_stop-holding.png)

## 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:

![Why WordPress holds a comment back](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTAxNDQsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--e46bca8da15914301a84f415f4aa1fdcc671031e/step_3.png)

## 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.

![How long the wait usually is](https://wordpress.supportpages.io/rails/active_storage/blobs/proxy/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsiZGF0YSI6MTAxNDUsInB1ciI6ImJsb2JfaWQifX0=--a4889fb7448638906aed09b32ccc5446ea8008b5/step_4.png)

## 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.