The current version of WordPress does not provide a mechanism for retrieving comments accidentally marked as spam. This can be circumvented with the Akismet plugin.

Akismet is a WordPress plugin that evaluates and deals with regular spam comments as well as trackback spam.

If a comment matches up with spam in their database, Akismet dispatches it swiftly, saving you the hassle of moderating several spam comments on a daily basis.

As an added bonus, Akismet allows you to view caught (or marked) spam and retrieve it from the database.

Step-by-step instructions for recovering a comment accidentally marked as spam in WordPress:

Step 1. Install the Akismet plugin.

Akismet is included in the core WordPress distribution. It can also be downloaded from the Akismet website as a zip file.

If Akismet is not already in the plugins list, then:

1. Download the plugin.
2. Extract the zip file into the wp-content/plugins folder in the hosting area for the WordPress website. This will create a new folder called “akismet” in the plugins folder.
   

Step 2. Activate the Akismet plugin.

1. In the main WordPress dashboard, click Plugins in the top right corner to access the Plugin Panel. Akismet will now be in the list of inactive plugins.
2. Select Akismet and click Activate.

Note: Akismet activation requires a WordPress API key. If you have a WordPress.com account, you will find the API key in your profile page at WordPress.com, or in the e-mail you received from WordPress.com to acknowledge user registration.

Step 3. Find the comment that was accidentally marked as spam and retrieve it.

1. Click Comments at the top of the WordPress dashboard.
2. Click Akismet Spam to access the “Caught Spam” panel.
3. Find the comment to be retrieved and tick the “Not Spam” checkbox underneath it.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click De-spam marked comments. The comment will reappear in the “Manage Comments” panel.

Please bear with me as I try and make this a cleaner, simpler website.

WordPress is proving fantastic for this job. I’ve known about WordPress as a blog platform for a long time, but I’ve only just found out what an excellent content management tool it is.

In my implementation, all the written content like posts, text for web pages and so forth, is stored in a mySQL database (provided with most hosting packages nowadays), while WordPress manages the fancy stuff in front. And it’s free, under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

There are also a lot of plugins available for WordPress, which are basically WordPress-compatible programs that add extra functionality to your site. Some plugins are simple bug fixes, overriding things that won’t be fixed until the next WordPress release (or later), while others are fully-fledged applications that help you with tasks like setting up a photoblog or hosting a podcast. Plugins are usually free, but this will depend on the user that created them.

When I started this site a few months ago, I used HTML, some CSS, and a simple WYSIWYG site builder, because I needed to get the job done quickly, using what I knew. Now I wish I’d taken the extra few minutes to familiarise myself with WordPress instead. Still, I’ve made up for that with a vengeance!

The main reason I procrastinated was because I couldn’t find a theme that I liked. I’ve now compromised by finding a theme that’s “close enough” and teaching myself more CSS to modify it.

Thortz’s Skimmed Milk theme is gloriously minimal, and what I like most is that the code is well-documented and elegantly written so that it’s easy to make your own changes.

Well, that’s enough geek-evangelising for now.

Planned improvements to evangelinethan.com include:

• an easy-to-navigate gallery to showcase my art,
• the possible inclusion of a “News” section to do a little trumpet-blowing about any writing or illustration achievements (hey, if you don’t market yourself, who else is going to do it for you?),
• images on every page to spruce things up a bit.

I hope you’ll like what I’ve done.

Thank you for your patience,

Angie