Comment Connection
Comment Connection is a plugin that turns an element of comment text to a link for a previous comment. Whenever an author uses @commenter, the text after @ is automatically linked to the previous comment it refers to.
Consider an alternative
Comment Connection shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 18 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
- Small user base (10+ active installs)
- Very few reviews so far
- No update in 17 years
- Only tested up to WordPress 2.7 (latest is 7.1)
How does it stack up?
Side-by-side on installs, updates, ratings & support
![Disable Comments – Remove Comments & Stop Spam [Multi-Site Support]](https://ps.w.org/disable-comments/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=2509854){kind=icon}
Daily downloads
Download spikes usually follow a new release — each site that auto-updates counts as a download.
Rankings
Where Comment Connection stands todayWordPress.org search rankings
Live position in the plugin search, top 100| Keyword | Position |
|---|---|
| comments | >100 |
| link | >100 |
| reply | >100 |
Version adoption
Share of active sites per release.
About Comment Connection
From the official readme · v1.6Description
Comment Connection is a plugin that turns an element of comment text to a link for a previous comment. Whenever an author uses @commenter, the text after @ is automatically linked to the previous comment it refers to.
The plugin works by searching each comment for an occurance of @. Where it finds one, the plugin searches the comment database for a comment on the same post written by the person being referenced. By doing it this way, the plugin only adds one database query for each referencing comment.
If the type after the @ symbol does not correspond to a comment, no changes are made.
Currently tested successfully with the most current version of WP, 2.7. If you have trouble with earlier versions, or even have it work properly on earlier versions, please let me know.
For a complete list of the changes from each version, please visit the plugin homepage.
Be sure to check out my other plugins at my WordPress profile.
USAGE
Inside a comment, write @commenter where commenter is the name of the author you are replying to. The plugin will successfully find a link when the commenter text is followed by a new line, colon (:), comma (,) or a dash (-).
LIMITATIONS
- Commenter must be an exact match of the original author’s name.
- Many database queries can occur for a post with many referencing comments.
- Only links to the last comment made by commenter (ie. if the commenter writes many comments before the @, the most recent one is linked to).
Installation
- Copy the folder comment-connection into your WordPress plugins directory (wp-content/plugins).
- Log in to WordPress Admin. Go to the Plugins page and click Activate for Comment Connection.
For developers
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Best Comment Connection alternatives
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FAQ
Comment Connection: quick answers
Straight answers, pulled from live WordPress.org data.
Live data from WordPress.org · checked Oct 3, 2026
Is Comment Connection free?
Yes. Comment Connection is free to download and use from the official WordPress.org plugin directory.
Is Comment Connection safe to use in 2026?
Comment Connection shows warning signs in 2026 — compare the alternatives below before installing. It runs on 10+ sites and was last updated 18 years ago, and scores 23/100 on our health check.
How many websites use Comment Connection?
Comment Connection is active on 10+ WordPress websites and has been downloaded 3,649 times since it launched in May 2008. It was downloaded 43 times in the last 30 days.
Does Comment Connection work with WordPress 7.1?
Comment Connection is officially tested up to WordPress 2.7, while the latest release is 7.1.2. It may still work, but try it on a staging site first.
When was Comment Connection last updated?
The latest version, 1.6, was released on January 6, 2009 (18 years ago).
Who makes Comment Connection?
Comment Connection is developed and maintained by wesg.
What are the best alternatives to Comment Connection?
The most popular alternatives to Comment Connection are Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Pro… (5M+ installs), Disable Comments (1M+ installs) and Antispam Bee (700K+ installs).
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