The bonus project, chapter three: The door can be unlocked — now what?

Automatic reopening via plugin or user action

I don’t even know if there are plugins that can manipulate comment states, but in theory, one could imagine a button that lets readers request (or worse, trigger) a reopening. And that would defeat the entire purpose of the thirty‑day rule. If readers could reopen comments themselves — even indirectly — the spam floodgates would swing wide open. Bots would have a field day. My inbox would cry.

So this option goes straight into the “absolutely not” pile. Readers cannot — and must not — reopen comments on their own.

Email

This is the channel that started it all. A reader found my professional address, wrote to me, and voilà: the bonus project was born. Now, here is the catch: I never gave him/her that address. This determined reader tracked me down through the digital maze like a modern‑day Sherlock Holmes, intent on making contact no matter the obstacles.

First, my apologies for contacting you through your work email. Unfortunately, I was not able to leave a comment on your posts.T. S.

Now, I cannot expect every reader to go through that kind of detective work. It’s flattering, yes, but hardly sustainable. I could, of course, provide an email address somewhere on the site — a clear, official way to reach me. But that solution comes with its own problems: exposure to spam, the need to monitor yet another inbox, and the risk of turning my email into a secondary comment channel, which is precisely what I want to avoid.

So while email works — and will always remain a valid fallback — it’s not the ideal primary path for requesting a comment‑section reopening.

Contact form

If email is the path for the determined few, a contact form could be the path for everyone else. No detective work required, no digital sleuthing, no accidental intrusion into my professional inbox. Just a simple, structured way to say, “I’d like to comment on this post — could you reopen the door?”

A form would solve several problems at once. It would give readers a clear, official way to reach me without exposing my email address to the entire internet. It could even include a field for the post URL, making requests easier to process. And unlike email, it’s discoverable — no need for readers to go full Sherlock Holmes.

But it’s not without drawbacks. A form is technically a new channel, even if it’s not a discussion channel. It requires maintenance, spam protection, and a bit of design work. And it still relies on readers knowing where to find it, which is not guaranteed. So while a contact form is a strong contender — and arguably overdue — it’s not yet the perfect answer.

Leaving a comment on another open post

If the door is locked on one post, why not slip through another? And I don’t mean leaving a meta‑comment like, “By the way, could you reopen comments on Post X?” No — what I’ve pictured is far more direct: a reader posting their intended comment on a completely different article, wherever the comment section is still open, and adding a small explanation or apology along the lines of, “Sorry, I’m putting this here because the post I wanted to comment on is closed.”

And yet — even the determined reader who inspired this entire bonus project didn’t choose that route. Despite being motivated enough to track down my professional email, he/she never attempted to slip his/her comment into an unrelated thread. That says something. Perhaps readers instinctively feel that hijacking another post’s discussion is… off. Or maybe they simply don’t think of it. Either way, it’s a path that remains unused.

Because while this workaround is technically possible, it’s practically disastrous. It clutters unrelated discussions, confuses future readers, and creates a moderation tangle I’d rather avoid. So yes, this path exists. But it’s one I hope no one ever takes — hence, this project.

A dedicated “Request to reopen comments” link or button

After ruling out the messy, the indirect, and the downright dangerous, one option stands out as the most natural: letting readers ask for a reopening right there on the post itself. Not on a contact page. Not through a scavenger hunt. Not by hijacking another discussion. But exactly where the comment form would normally be — the place where the reader already is, mentally and physically, when they want to contribute.

In other words, the request mechanism should live at the very spot where the closed door is felt.

A simple “Reopen comments” click would be far too easy — and far too tempting for bots, drive‑by readers, or anyone who isn’t genuinely invested in the conversation. Reopening a closed thread should require a little effort. Not as much as the aforementioned reader put in, of course — no one should have to go full detective — but enough to show intent. Not a Herculean one either—commenting is already demanding, requiring thought, time, and the willingness to engage—but something more than tapping a button.

I need to know that the request is motivated. A small form, a short message, a deliberate action that signals, “I really want to comment on this post.” Not an essay, not a plea — just a brief justification. A rationale. A sentence or two that convinces me the reopening is worth it. This small friction is not a barrier; it’s a filter — a way to separate genuine engagement from casual impulse.

This approach strikes the right balance. It keeps control firmly in my hands. It preserves the integrity of the thirty‑day rule. It respects the reader’s desire to engage. And it ensures that only genuine, thoughtful requests make it through. If I can implement such a mechanism — one that appears only when comments are closed, sits exactly where the form would be, and invites a small but meaningful effort — then I will finally have a workflow that turns the theoretical “yes” into something practical. A door that stays closed by default, but can be knocked on — and opened — for the right reasons.

Trying the plugin I had in mind… Even if I probably shouldn’t

I went to my site and opened the TotalRating dashboard, not entirely sure where to begin. Yes — that’s the plugin I had been alluding to all along, the one I installed months ago when I rebuilt my reaction buttons. I remembered that it had something somewhere, some feature I thought I would recognize instantly… if only their website weren’t currently down. So I started poking around.

My first stop was the Documentation link — “Read the documentation to get familiar with TotalRating in few minutes.” I clicked it with the same dread one feels when opening a door marked “Do Not Enter,” half‑expecting it to lead straight to a dead site. It didn’t. The link worked. The site was alive. Good. But the relief was short‑lived. Every link inside that documentation page led to a dead end. One after another. False hope wrapped in a functioning homepage.

Enter the Wayback Machine (external link). It worked — at least partially — but no matter how many snapshots I tried, I couldn’t find the specific feature I vaguely remembered. So I switched tactics and combed through every link available from the plugin repository itself, including the supposedly “Live demo.” And that’s when I finally stumbled upon it: “Comment required: Widget with required comment field.” There it was — the very thing I had been trying to recall. A tiny spark of possibility.

But then came the obvious question: Where is this? And how on earth do I enable it? So, I decided to create a new rating widget — cautiously, very cautiously — hoping first not to break my existing “Reaction buttons” setup, and second to finally uncover that elusive “required comment” option. But before clicking anything that might unleash chaos, I paused. Maybe the answer was already hiding in my current widget. No need to reinvent the wheel if the wheel is already spinning.

I opened the existing configuration instead. Configure tab > General settings: nothing useful. Attributes: yes — there it was. A tiny switch labeled “Require comment.” A small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Great. Except… how exactly do you turn a rating system into a form for requesting something? A rating widget is meant to collect stars, likes, reactions — not structured messages. How do I coax this plugin into behaving like a miniature request form rather than a rating tool?

Creating a new widget

Using my own tutorial as a guide, I launched the widget‑creation wizard — or rather, I tried to. I couldn’t immediately locate it, so I clicked New Widget, hoping it would trigger the familiar setup flow. It did.

I named the widget Reopen comment request. Not poetic, perhaps, but explicit enough that I won’t wonder later what on earth this thing was supposed to do. From there, I moved quickly through the initial steps. I wasn’t trying to build a rating system this time. The purpose was entirely different. I wasn’t looking for stars or emojis; I was looking for a way to turn this widget into a tiny doorbell readers could press when they wanted comments reopened.

I already knew TotalRating wouldn’t let me create a text‑only widget. No matter what preset I chose — Faces, 5 Stars, Thumbs, or even “Empty” — I would end up with faces anyway. That’s simply how the plugin works. Still, I had only two “faces” in mind for this experiment: do nothing and request comments to be reopened. Two buttons. That was all I needed. So I picked Thumbs, knowing full well it didn’t matter. I could change it later, and I probably would.

The target entity was obvious: Posts, not Pages. But what I really wanted to know — and what TotalRating never makes entirely clear — was where this new widget would appear in relation to my existing reaction buttons. Above? Below? Somewhere unexpected? And more importantly, would I be able to control that placement?

I clicked Continue, then Continue again, and again — letting all the defaults stand. And finally Finish, fully aware that this was only the beginning. I hadn’t even added the option I cared about yet.