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[[!template id=plugin name=comments author="[[Simon_McVittie|smcv]]"]] [[!tag type/useful]]

This plugin adds "blog-style" comments. The intention is that on a non-wiki site (like a blog) you can lock all pages for admin-only access, then allow otherwise unprivileged (or perhaps even anonymous) users to comment on posts.

When using this plugin, you should also enable [[htmlscrubber]] and either [[htmltidy]] or [[htmlbalance]]. Directives are filtered out by default, to avoid commenters slowing down the wiki by causing time-consuming processing. As long as the recommended plugins are enabled, comment authorship should hopefully be unforgeable by CGI users.

The plugin adds a new [[ikiwiki/PageSpec]] match type, postcomment, for use with anonok_pagespec from the [[plugins/anonok]] plugin or locked_pages from the [[plugins/lockedit]] plugin. Typical usage would be something like:

locked_pages => "!postcomment(*)"

to allow non-admin users to comment on pages, but not edit anything. You can also do

anonok_pages => "postcomment(*)"

to allow anonymous comments (the IP address will be used as the "author").

There are some global options for the setup file:

  • comments_shown_pagespec: pages where comments will be displayed inline, e.g. blog/* or */discussion.
  • comments_open_pagespec: pages where new comments can be posted, e.g. blog/* and created_after(close_old_comments) or */discussion
  • comments_pagename: if this is e.g. comment_ (the default), then comments on the [[sandbox]] will be called something like sandbox/comment_12
  • comments_allowdirectives: if true (default false), comments may contain IkiWiki directives
  • comments_commit: if true (default true), comments will be committed to the version control system
  • comments_allowauthor: if true (default false), anonymous commenters may specify a name for themselves, and the [[!meta author]] and [[!meta authorurl]] directives will not be overridden by the comments plugin

Templates that will display comments (by default that means comments_display.tmpl) can use the following additional <TMPL_VAR>s:

  • COMMENTUSER: the authenticated/verified user name, or undefined if the user was not signed in
  • COMMENTIP: the remote IP address, or undefined if not known (this is not currently recorded for users who are signed in, who are assumed to be vaguely accountable)
  • COMMENTAUTHOR: a "prettier" version of the authenticated/verified user name (e.g. OpenIDs are formatted the same way as in [[RecentChanges]]), or the result of localizing "Anonymous" if the user was not signed in
  • COMMENTAUTHORURL: if the user was signed in with an OpenID, that URL; if the user was signed in with some other username, a CGI URL that redirects to their user page (if any)

This plugin also adds a \[[!comment]] directive which is used when storing comments. This directive shouldn't be used on pages that are edited in the usual way.

This plugin aims to close the [[todo]] item "[[todo/supporting_comments_via_disussion_pages]]", and is currently available from [[smcv]]'s git repository on git.pseudorandom.co.uk (it's the comments-rebase1 branch). A demo wiki with the plugin enabled is running at http://www.pseudorandom.co.uk/2008/ikiwiki/demo/; the sandbox page has some examples of comments.

Known issues:

  • Needs code review
  • The access control via postcomment() is rather strange (see [[discussion]] for more details)
  • There is some common code cargo-culted from other plugins (notably inline and editpage) which should probably be shared
  • Joey doesn't think it should necessarily use internal pages (see [[discussion]])
  • \[[!comment]] should perhaps be \[[!_comment]], or a special filter/htmlize hook rather than being a directive at all
  • Previews always say "unknown IP address"
  • [[todo/inline_plugin:_ability_to_override_the_feed_name]]
  • [[todo/inline_plugin:_hide_feed_buttons_if_empty]]

I haven't done a detailed code review, but I will say I'm pleased you avoided re-implementing inline! --[[Joey]]

Fixed issues:

  • Joey didn't think the \[[!comments]] directive was appropriate; comments now appear on pages selected with a [[ikiwiki/pagespec]]
  • Joey thought that raw HTML should always be allowed; it now is
  • tbm wanted anonymous people to be able to enter their name and possibly email address; a name and website can now be supplied
  • There is now an indication of who you're signed in as
  • Each comment is now one big [[!comment]] directive invocation, avoiding previous issues with unambiguous and un-spoofable metadata