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Free Plugin by Rolf Allard van Hagen v0.7

Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients

Control who will receive new comment and moderation notifications. Light weight, simple, safe and effective.

Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients

The facts

Rating
5★ from 4
Active installs
1k+
Price
Free
Last updated
19 Feb 2026
Added
Dec 2010
Requires WP
3.7
Tested up to
WP 6.9.7
Downloads
25,352

Our analysis

AI-assisted

Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients is a WordPress plugin designed to manage comment notification settings for post authors. It allows you to control who receives notifications for new comments and moderation alerts, streamlining the process for sites with multiple contributors or where a webmaster manages the site. The plugin is particularly useful for collaboration sites, reducing the burden on site administrators by directing notifications solely to the post authors.

Once installed and activated, the plugin sends comment moderation notifications only to the respective post authors. If a post author does not have moderation rights or a valid email, the notifications will default to the site's administration email. The plugin is compatible with WordPress Multisite and can be activated on a per-site basis or as a must-use plugin, although configuration requires editing the wp-config.php file for custom settings.

Best for: This plugin suits collaborative sites or those managed by webmasters where multiple authors contribute content.

What it does well

  • Sends comment moderation notifications only to post authors
  • Reduces notification burden on site administrators
  • Compatible with WordPress Multisite
  • Customisable via constants in wp-config.php
  • Free to use from the WordPress.org directory

Where it falls short

  • Limited configuration options available
  • Requires manual editing of wp-config.php for custom settings

Verdict

Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients provides a straightforward solution for managing comment notifications, making it beneficial for sites with multiple authors. However, its configuration limitations may not suit all users.

From the developer

Rolf Allard van Hagen's own description of Comment Moderation/Notification Recipients, lightly tidied.

Normally, when a comment gets submitted to a particular post, the author of that post gets a notification about it. And when a comment is held for moderation (which depends on your sites comment settings) then the moderation notification is sent to both the post Author (if he/she has moderation rights) and the site’s Administration E-mail Address as configured under Settings > General at the same time.

On colaboration sites or sites managed by a webmaster or designer where the client is the post author, the site admin, with enough on his/her mind already, is bothered with each and every new comment in the moderation queue.

This plugin can change that.

Just install and activate it: All post comment moderation notifications will be sent only to each respective Post Author. If, by any chance, the post author has no moderation rights (Contributor level) or there is no valid author e-mail set then the default site e-mail address will still get the notification.

WordPress Multisite compatible, per-site or network activated or as a must-use plugin.

Plugin Settings

Options will be added in the future but for now, you can only change the plugin behavior via constants in your wp-config.php file.

Add them on a new line in your wp-config.php file, just above the line that sais: /* That's all, stop editing! Happy publishing. */.

These constants are currently available:

  1. COMMENT_NOTIFICATION_RECIPIENTS – Controls the New Comment recipients. Default: “wp_default” corresponds with “post_author_only” WordPress default.
  2. COMMENT_MODERATION_RECIPIENTS – Controls the Comment is waiting for Moderation message recipients. Default: “post_author_only”.

These options are currently available:

  1. wp_default – The WordPress default behavior. Plugin does nothing.
  2. post_author_only – Send notifications only to the Post Author e-mail address.
  3. site_admin_only – Send notifications only to the Administration Email Address as configured on Settings > General.

Examples:

Use define( 'COMMENT_NOTIFICATION_RECIPIENTS', 'site_admin_only' ); to make new comment notifications go to the site admin e-mail address, and no longer the post author.

Use define( 'COMMENT_MODERATION_RECIPIENTS', 'post_author_only' ); to make comment moderation notifications only go to the authors e-mail address, and no longer the site administrator address (unless the post author does not have moderation rights).

Read the full description on the official page →

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