I’m replying to comments on my UtopiaMechanicus.com website, and I’m thinking – “why don’t I see those fancy nested comments like elsewhere?” You know, the ones that allow you to reply directly under any comment, and then reply to that, and so on, instead of adding a reply to the very end, and hoping somebody figures out you were answering them?

First step is to use a newer theme – this feature was added around WP 2.7, so themes before that time simply won’t show nested comments. The good news is that if you’re using any recent theme you should be OK. And of course, if you’re using TwentyEleven, it IS built into it.

Fine – but you say love your current (yet very old) theme – what to do? Unfortunately, it requires some editing of the theme – check this WordPress site tutorial for the code changes you (or someone you hire) will need to do.

One more thing: It turns out that if you have an old blog, you won’t automatically get that feature, even if you use a new theme. I was sweating over my theme wondering what went wrong when I stumbled upon the setting in Admin: Settings; Discussion; “Other comment settings” – then check the box in front of “Enable threaded (nested) comments…” (you can leave the level at 5 for now, and change it later if you need to). Save that, and with that one change, your comments will now be nested!