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I've just noticed that this blog as it is currently set up requires commenters to give their email address, and then goes and publishes it in the "Posted by" line at the end of the comment. I don't like that, because it invites spam to commenters' addresses. I've figured out how to get Moveable Type to not require any identifying information, but that's not quite what I want either: I like making people give a name because even if they use a made-up handle it makes conversations easier to follow, and I still prefer to get peoples' email addresses so a reply can be made in private if necessary, but I don't want to get people spammed.

So, does anyone know if it's possible to get MT to require a name but not an email address, and/or to collect the commenter's email address without publishing it? Either of those things would be better than what I have it doing right now, but I can't find the appropriate options.

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Comments

Jeremy Smith:

It's a little tricky because you have to wade into the Movable Type templates. But if you feel so inclined, in your blog's administrative area, find the templates section. In the templates section, there are several different types of templates. You want to find the template called "Individual Entry Archive." Go ahead and click on it.

You will be taken to a screen chock full of HTML and Movable Type template tags. Don't get discouraged because you are almost there.

Near the bottom of the template, you should see the markup that defines the comment listings. It should look something like:

<MTComments>
<div class="comment">
<div class="commentsPosted">
<a title="Get Your Own Gravatar" href="http://gravatar.com">
<img src="<$MTGravatar size="40" default="http://blog.case.edu/jms18/anonymous.jpg"$>"
 alt="gravatar" style="border: medium none ; float: right; vertical-align: top;margin-top: 0px;" /></a>
<p>Posted by: <$MTCommentAuthorLink spam_protect="1"$><br />
Posted on: <a name="<$MTCommentID$>" href="#<$MTCommentID$>" title="Comment #<$MTCommentID$> 
on <$MTEntryTitle$>"><$MTCommentDate$></a></p></div>
<$MTCommentBody$>
</div>
</MTComments>

You are looking for the section:

<$MTCommentAuthorLink spam_protect="1"$>

Change that line to:

<$MTCommentAuthorLink show_email="0"$>
Posted: January 18, 2006 06:39 PM
Eldan Goldenberg:

Aha! Thanks. That wasn't too complicated, and it's now behaving as I wanted it to.

One remaining minor issue: do you know if it's possible to get the commenter's URL to display?
Posted: January 19, 2006 09:27 AM
Jeremy Smith:

Yea. I am taking all of this information from the help, more specifically from the section on the comment template tags

Try using:

<a href="<$MTCommentURL$>"><$MTCommentAuthor$></a>
Posted: January 19, 2006 03:35 PM
Eldan Goldenberg:

My apologies: I didn't notice that part of the manual, because I went right to the comments section, and missed that there was also a comments subsection of the tags part....

Thanks, by the way, for the outstanding customer service. I'm used to helplines and such being of little real help, but here I just have to post a general question and within a few hours someone who knows what he's talking about because he actually set the system up comes along and answers.
Posted: January 20, 2006 11:29 AM

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