That is the question I came across not too long ago on a forum. It might seem like such a trivial matter to those more experienced WordPress users but really it may not be as simple as you think. This is why.

Sometimes terminology gets in the way so let’s be clear what nested or threaded comments are. These replies to a comment that appear indented under the original comment. It is a great to help you and readers follow a conversation.

WordPress integrated this feature into the basic install beginning version 2.7 so it’s been a while and many themes should have caught up by now. However, I know for a fact working with a lot of different people and installs over the years, some of us still use antiquated versions (dangerous) or use themes that are antiquated (just as dangerous). Knowing this, there are three ways you can turn on nested comments in WordPress.

Turn It On

No, I’m not trying to be funny. There are many many times especially on a site that has been around and using WordPress for a long time. You may not realize the feature is there when you upgraded and simply never looked at it.

Log into WP as admin user, go to Settings >> Discussion. Under comments settings, check the box Enable threaded (nested) comments, select how many levels you want to nest and Save Changes. Check your site.

If that doesn’t work, then…

Contact The Theme Author Or Whoever Built The Site For You

This indicates the issue is not exactly with WordPress but your theme. You see, for threaded comments to happen, the theme has to also support it. So check in with your theme designer to ask if there’s a new updated version to support that. If you used a free theme from a hobbyist designer you could be out of luck and need to call in the pros to fix the theme up for you.

If you don’t know the developer, get up with whoever built that site for you. It might cost you but a good WordPress designer who hangs out their shingle as a pro should know how to do this. It really isn’t that complicated. Here’s a secret. Making an older theme recognize nested comments doesn’t really require any techno mumbo jumbo hacking skills. It just requires thinking out of the box.

No one to help you?

Use A Third Party Comment Plugin

We use Livefyre but there are others out there too like Intense Debate and Disqus. This is perhaps the simplest and quickest low-tech way to get it. The trade off is you are hooking into a third party system which may not be all bad because sometimes people do find you through these systems and automated spam control is taken care of.

Don’t want to do that? Then…

Change your theme

Yeah. The solution is simple but not an easy decision if you have a lot of things riding on the current theme so now you have weigh if nested comments are worth all that work. Generally I’d recommend switching to something more modern anyhow. If the theme you’re using is so outdated (at time of writing nested comments have already been out for a little over 3 years), you’re better off updating anyhow because you’re probably missing out on a lot of cool new possibilities with newer themes. These are what we use and recommend.

Recommended Themes

There are plenty of gorgeous ones out there these are pretty much the only two we work with regularly and love them to pieces.

• StudioPress – their All-Themes pack pricing is set to increase. Save $50 by getting it today (before Jan 31, 2012)
• iThemes Builder