The Extra Chill Platform implements a unified, network-wide comment system that integrates the main content site with community profiles and Gutenberg-based editing.

Core Features

1. Auto-Approval for Authenticated Users

To streamline engagement, comments from logged-in users are automatically approved, bypassing the standard moderation queue.

• Implementation: extrachill-users/inc/comment-auto-approval.php
• Mechanism: Filters pre_comment_approved to return 1 for authenticated users.

2. Multisite Author Routing

Comment author links are routed to centralized community profiles to maintain identity consistency across the multisite network.

• Implementation: extrachill-users/inc/author-links.php
• Function: ec_get_comment_author_link_multisite()
• Target: https://community.extrachill.com/u/{username}/

3. Cross-Site Comment Aggregation

User comments from the main journalism site (Blog ID 1) are aggregated and displayed within the community ecosystem.

• Implementation: extrachill-community/inc/content/main-site-comments.php
• Display Locations:
  • User Profiles (Comments tab)
  • /blog-comments centralized feed
• Mechanism: Uses switch_to_blog(1) to retrieve comments for a specific user ID.

4. Gutenberg Integration

Comments support the WordPress Block Editor, allowing users to use blocks (images, lists, etc.) within their comments.

• Plugin: blocks-everywhere enables Gutenberg functionality in the comment transition and display.

5. Access Control & Theme Integration

The platform enforces a "Login to Comment" policy to ensure accountability and enable the auto-approval workflow.

• Implementation: extrachill/inc/single/comments.php
• Requirement: Users must be logged in to view the comment form. Unauthenticated users are presented with a login/register block.

Technical Flow

1. Authentication: Theme checks is_user_logged_in().
2. Submission: User submits comment via Gutenberg-enabled editor.
3. Approval: extrachill-users auto-approves the comment if the user is logged in.
4. Linking: extrachill-users filters the author link to point to the community profile.
5. Aggregation: extrachill-community pulls the comment into the user’s global activity feed.