How many times have you published a comment, realizing just a few seconds later that you misspelled something, or your URL was incorrect. Usually, you would have to create another comment which would dismiss the previous comment.

Ronald Huereca of the Reader Appreciation Project has released a WordPress plugin which gives administrators and regular users the ability to edit their own comments within a given time frame. The plugin pretty much works in the same way that the Digg commenting system works.

The plugin uses Ajax so the entire page never needs to reload. Once a comment is published, a timer starts to count down the remaining time available to edit the comment. Once the timer reaches zero, only the administrator can edit the comment. Users can also edit their email address, or their URL by clicking on the text that needs to be edited. This will open the comment editor window allowing you to make the necessary changes.

Plugin Features

• Utilizes the jQuery library.
• Comment editing times out after 15 seconds.
• Better error handling.
• Graceful deletion for compatible themes.
• A hook for other plugin authors to tap into.
• Compatible with many plugins, including Akismet, WP Cache, Better Comments Manager, WP Grins, TinyMCEComments, and many more.

I have installed this plugin on this blog so now you’ll be able to edit your own comments. We need every WordPress blogger to install this plugin, or something similar so that users can edit their comments. Why this functionality is missing from WordPress by default is beyond me, but the solution provided above works out very nicely. Please visit The Reader Appreciation Project and grab your copy today and install it as soon as possible so people can edit their own comments.

Special thanks to the guys who host the WordPress Podcast for tipping me off on this plugin.