SOLVED: Bricks comments widget hijacking the native WP comments, so no WP comments plugin working

Bricks Version: 1.3.1
Browser: Chrome 90
OS: macOS / Windows / Linux / etc.
URL: (a link to a page that illustrates the issue would be really helpful)

[Please describe in as much detail as possible how we can replicate this bug]

I have been testing Bricks and I couldn’t make any WP plugin work with Bricks. That’s because Bricks comments widget is hijacking the WP native comments functionality, so no other WP comments plugins can be used.

Disqus would work because it doesn’t rely on the native WP comments, but I need to use plugins based on the native WP comments.

The problem with Bricks is that is forcing their own comments’ element by replacing the native WP comments. The result is that when you use one plugin that uses the existent WP comments code like (WP Discuz, Deeper Comments, Thrive Comments…) Bricks comments element still comes on top anything that is “WP comments” even if you use any of those others plugins as a “skin”.

The result is that no other WP Plugin for comments can be used. It’s an issue that is causing the design from Bricks by messing with the WP native code that generates that kind of incompatibilities with plugins.

No code should be forced in WP, but used for accomplish the objective. The bricks comments cannot do a 10% of what other specialized plugins can do. I hope you can fix this or maybe just create a regular WP comments widget that display the native WP comments so the rest of the plugins.

Regards

2 Likes

Hi @jotace,

Thank you for reaching out and describing the problem you’re having.

Indeed, Bricks does not use the native comments_template which plugins like wpDiscuz are based on.

If you could, please post this request on our idea board: Ideas – Bricks
We prioritize work according to that.

Well, It’s funny to me because, causing incompatibilities of plugins because of “unnatural” modifications/workflows with the WP code is not what I would consider an idea, but a way of developing incompatibilities. This is a situation that needs a fix, but well, I add this incompatibility with any WP comment plugins to the ideas board if that’s the procedure. The comments you have created are more beautiful than the WP native ones yes, but you have to understand that they are pretty reduced in features compared with a specialized plugin (not even a 10% of what those plugins offer). That’s why having the native comments from WP as an option is a must.

My 2 cents: Kindly note that I’m trying not to sound rude with this matter, but Why not to use the code that is already there? I would stop forcing the code that WP already has. If you just rely on it, you will avoid multiple issues. The rest of the plugins that everyone is using are relying on that code, so every modification means unnecessary incompatibilities.

You have a nice project here, don’t mess with the code that already exists in WP and WooCommerce, use it on your benefit.

Regards

2 Likes

I sort of agree with @jotace here. This shouldn’t be handled as a feature request/idea, but rather a bug/incompatibility and should be prioritized as such.

Just my 2 cents.

3 Likes

I’d been having the same issues with Discuz - Happily I’ve found a hack around:

I placed <?php comments_template() ?> is a code widget at the end of the page in the Bricks page builder and now the posts display the Discuz comment system.

(Update: Note, there’s a flaw in this approach, but it too can be hacked around - see below )

I’m leaving this here as it may help others.

2 Likes

Hello @flimflam

Thank you for posting this workaround. Seems to be a pretty solid solution and not a hack.

Meanwhile, the feature request is already published in the Bricks Ideas.

1 Like

(Ignore this - I’d thought myself into knots!)

Hi @luistinygod

I’ve now discovered there is a fly in the ointment with my injecting-code-to-show-comment approach.

Bricks also still displays its own comments, lower down the page - so you end up with the comments being displayed twice on the page - not ideal.

As a short term hack (as I really need to have wpDiscuz comments displaying), in CSS, I’ve set the Bricks comments to display: none. This has the page-load speed downside of the post’s comments being loaded twice to display, but at least they’re not being shown twice now.

Look forward to the official fix :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Thanks a lot, I hope the team can solve this eventually, but this way, Bricks will become more usable. Thanks a lot for sharing :blush:

1 Like

Hello @flimflam
Are you using a Bricks template to render the single post layout? Or, do you rely on the default Bricks single post template?

Hi @luistinygod - Yes, this is all occurring on the single post layout I’ve built.

Happy to privately share the dev site with you if helpful.

Simon

Hello @flimflam

If possible, yes, I would like to check your dev site. (help@bricksbuilder.io)

Thank you.

Thanks to @luistinygod for taking a look.

I must have thought myself into knots on this one. The fix of stopping the Bricks Comments showing was simple - Remove the Bricks Comments element that I’d already placed in the template! (I was sure I’d tried this obvious solutions before and it didn’t fix it, but there we are - works fine with no comment duplication).

I’ll amend my post above to reflect this to avoid confusion.

2 Likes

Hi,

Do you know any trick by which I can display thrive comments on the posts and switch off bricks comments? Pls let me know

Many thanks.

Hi, unfortunately not. I’ve never used Thrive Comments before.

Ok can you tell bro @flimflam

I know I’m late, but in case someone finds the following solution useful.

1 I have created a custom shortcode and added it to my functions.php

function my_wpdiscuz_shortcode() {
if(file_exists(ABSPATH . ‘wp-content/plugins/wpdiscuz/templates/comment/comment-form.php’)){
include_once ABSPATH . ‘wp-content/plugins/wpdiscuz/templates/comment/comment-form.php’;
}
}
add_shortcode( ‘wpdiscuz_comments’, ‘my_wpdiscuz_shortcode’ );

2 Create a template that renders the posts or pages

3 Paste the shortcode where the comments will appear.

[wpdiscuz_comments]

This has worked perfectly for me