How does link replacement in comment URLs work?

When a comment contains an external link, WordPress normally outputs it as a clickable tag. Search engines can still detect and follow these links even when they are marked rel="nofollow". To prevent this, the plugin can replace those links with safe, non-clickable elements. The original URL is preserved inside a data-uri attribute, so a link like: Example becomes: Example You can choose whether to replace links inside the comment text, the comment author profile URL, or both. This keeps everything looking the same for visitors but removes the link functionality so search engines cannot treat them as real outbound links. The replacement happens only on the front end and does not modify the actual comment stored in your database.

by Themeisle 5 (41 reviews)

Disable Comments & Delete All Comments

Name: Disable Comments & Delete All Comments
Rating: 5.0 (41 reviews)
Author: Themeisle

Disable comments globally on all posts or certain post types. Delete all comments at once, by post type or comment status. Manage links in comments.

Disable Comments & Delete All Comments ranks #2,218 among WordPress.org plugins with 9,000+ active installations, a 5/5 rating from 41 reviews, and was last updated Aug 21, 2026. Data from WordPress.org, refreshed twice daily — see methodology.

Compatible with WP 7.1

v1.3.3 Current Version v1.3.3

Updated 3 weeks ago Last Update on 21 Aug, 2026

Refreshed 6 hours ago Last Refreshed on

Top 5% by installs Downloads -39.6% this week Actively maintained

View on WordPress.org

Rank

#2,218

— No change

Active Installs

9K+

-6.6%

KW Avg Position

16.2

— No change

Downloads

102.5K

+1 today

Support Resolved

— No change

Rating

100%

Review 5 out of 5

5 (41 reviews)

Next Milestone 10K

Total Progress 83.6%

9K+ 10K+

Ranks to Climb

Growth Needed

8,000,000

Active Installs

Pro

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Need 164 more installs to reach 10K+

Rank Changes

Current #2,218

Change

Best #

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Active Installs Growth

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Active Installs 0,000,000+

Growth +0.0%

Peak 0,000,000

Downloads Growth

Downloads

Growth

Peak

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Reviews & Ratings

5.0

41 reviews

Overall 100%

41 (100%)

0 (0%)

Security History

Source: WPVulnerability

1 known vulnerability on record · 1 in the last 24 months · checked 3 days ago

May 27, 2026

Disable Comments & Delete All Comments [comments-plus] < 1.3.1

CVE-2026-42749 · Fixed in v1.3.1

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Plugin Details

Version: 1.3.3
Last Updated: Aug 21, 2026
Requires WP: 5.6+
Tested Up To: 7.1
PHP Version: 7.4 or higher
Author: Themeisle

Support & Rating

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5
Reviews: 41
Support Threads: 0
Resolved: 0%

Keywords

comment moderation delete comments disable comments remove comments spam protection

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TL;DR

AI summary of the plugin's readme

This plugin is for WordPress site owners who don't need comment functionality or want tighter control over it. It solves the clutter and moderation overhead caused by unused comment features by letting users disable comments, bulk delete existing comments, and strip risky links from comment submissions.

Disable comments globally or by post type
Hide comment-related admin menus and widgets
Disable pingbacks and trackbacks
Disable comments in RSS/Atom feeds
Delete all comments at once
Delete comments by post type
Delete comments by comment status
Remove website field from comment form

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Disable Comments & Delete All Comments

If you only want to disable comments on specific posts, you don’t need to use this plugin. WordPress lets you turn off comments for individual posts directly in the editor. Open the post, check the Post settings panel on the right, and look for the Discussion label. There you can check “Closed” for that single post. The plugin is only needed if you want to disable comments globally or control comments by post type.

If the comment form still appears after disabling comments, it usually means your theme is not respecting WordPress’s built-in comment settings. Some themes include their own hard-coded comment form or do not properly check whether comments are enabled before outputting the form. Because this is a theme-level issue, the plugin cannot remove comment forms that a theme outputs manually. The plugin successfully disables comments in WordPress itself, but themes that ignore WordPress standards may continue to display the comments. We recommend switching themes or contacting your theme's creator to report this issue.

The plugin hides comment-related messages wherever possible. If you still see the “Comments are closed” text, it means your theme is outputting that message directly and overriding WordPress’s default behavior. To remove it, you’ll need to make a small change to your theme. The most common approaches are: - editing your theme’s comments.php file and removing or commenting out the line that prints the message, or - adding a CSS rule in your theme’s style.css file to hide the message visually. Only make these changes if you are comfortable editing theme files, or ask your theme developer for help.

Yes. The delete comments tool is separate from the disable feature.

Yes. All comment disabling settings are reversible. If you decide to allow comments again, simply toggle the disable options off.

When a comment contains an external link, WordPress normally outputs it as a clickable <a href="…"> tag. Search engines can still detect and follow these links even when they are marked rel="nofollow". To prevent this, the plugin can replace those links with safe, non-clickable <span> elements. The original URL is preserved inside a data-uri attribute, so a link like: <a href="https://example.com">Example</a> becomes: <span data-uri="https://example.com">Example</span> You can choose whether to replace links inside the comment text, the comment author profile URL, or both. This keeps everything looking the same for visitors but removes the link functionality so search engines cannot treat them as real outbound links. The replacement happens only on the front end and does not modify the actual comment stored in your database.

Plugin security is a core priority for us. If you identify a potential vulnerability, we ask that you disclose it responsibly. Please follow the reporting protocols outlined on our Security Page.