Where are comments coded when using custom theme?

Question

I am having issues displaying both the default comment system and a plugin comment system in Wordpress. Comments are enabled via Wordpress settings, comments are being made somehow via spam bots, but comments are not being displayed on posts or pages even though they are enabled per post and page as well.

I tried looking up the comment functions via the Wordpress developer documentation. I've added example comment functions that should display the comments of the post or page in the:

• Theme Header.php
• Theme Footer.php
• Theme Post Body

And nothing is showing even though the post or page lists 50+ comments. There is also not a comment response block at the bottom, so I have no idea how spam bots are even commenting on the post or pages to begin with.

What I'm Looking For

1. In what PHP files are comments generally defined to display in content?
2. Is there anything in the database I can search for to check if comments are not working correctly?
3. Does anyone have any other ideas on why comments are now displaying?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Generally comments are being displayed using comments.php, the template is rendered using a function called comments_template();.

If-

• there is a comment template in your theme
• and it contains a function called comment_form(),
• and the comment template is being displayed below the post (in single.php, page.php etc.),
• and your comment settings from the Admin panel is open,

then the comment should show up.

This is how usually comments work in a theme templates.

If still you can't see any comments, then you have to debug it yourself. The common debugging process consists:

• Setting WP_DEBUG to true
• Deactivating all the plugins
• Switching back to any Default theme

Then observe what happens. If the problem still resides, then I'm afraid I can't help from here. But if it solves then you can think the theme or any plugin is doing something wrong.