Sticky Readers

Or, How to Fix that box999.bluehost.com Thing

This tutorial will tell you how to install the Comment Reply Notification plugin on your blog, as well as, how to ensure that when those notifications go out, they indicate the proper FROM email address, rather than whatever the crazy default is.

Things you’ll need:

• 1 self-hosted WordPress blog, regardless of whether it’s hosted by Bluehost, HostGator, whatever
• 1 cup of coffee (because I just like coffee, don’t you?)

Why Use Comment Reply Notification?

Since WordPress does not automatically notify commenters that their comments have been replied to (which is the ONLY reason I ever used Disqus but now that they hijack your blog with their own advertisements, links to other people’s posts, etc., I dropped them like it’s hot.) So I installed a plugin called “Comment Reply Notification”.

Why Do I Need to Do More Than Add the Comment Reply Notification Plugin?

When comment reply notification goes out, it uses the default admin email address from one of your WordPress files, which is whatever your host has decided that “root@localhost” means. Bluehost has decided that it’s the very first domain I set up with them. Which was a stupid test domain (“sactopuz”, if you must know – see? stupid name).

Therefore, the FROM email address that goes out to my readers is something like sactopuz@box242.bluehost.com. Blech! What does that have to do with Sticky Readers? For all I know, my readers totally ignore it, or stomp on it and trash it.

Install Comment Reply Notification Plugin

On Your Dashboard, Click on Plugins, then Add New, then search for “Comment Reply Notification” in the search box. Install the plugin by the author named “denishua” (It will probably be the first one listed). Alternatively, you can download it from the WordPress.org Plugin site.   It may warn you that it hasn’t been updated in 2 years, but it still works.

Configure Plugin Settings

On your WordPress dashboard, go to Settings, then Comment Reply Notification. This is where you can decide how to notify commenters, as well as configure the email text that goes out. Here’s what mine looks like:

Create an email address called wordpress@yourdomain.com.

WordPress will look for this email address and if it doesn’t exist, then you can’t control notifications. I’m not sure if this is just for notifying you whenever you get a comment or if it’s also used when commenters get replies. Regardless, you’ll want this email address set up.

So go create an email address called “wordpress@whateveryourdomainis.com” already!

For example, I created one called wordpress@stickyreaders.com

Modify WordPress mailer php file.

Yes, this means going into your cpanel and editing code – eek! Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand.

Locate wp-includes/class-phpmailer.php

Here, I’ll show you how I get there:

On my Bluehost cpanel, I scroll down to the Files section and click on File Manager.

Then I select my stickyreaders domain which takes me to my domain directory.

Then I double click on the wp-includes folder.

After opening up the wp-includes folder, scroll down until you find the file called class-phpmailer.php and click on that and then click the edit button.

Modify class-phpmailer.php to use proper email address.

Quick Instructions:

Change the $From and $Sender variables to your email address.

Detailed Instructions:

Scroll down (about 50-70 lines or so) until you find the code that declares the $From variable:

 /**
   * Sets the From email address for the message.
   * @var string
   */
  public $From              = 'root@localhost';

Change the lines for $From, $FromName and $Sender from ‘root@localhost’ or ‘Root User’ or maybe even blanks, to your particular admin email address. For example, my email address is margaret@stickyreaders.com so I changed the lines to this:

  /**   * Sets the From email address for the message.
   * @var string
   */
    public $From              = 'margaret@stickyreaders.com';

  /**
   * Sets the From name of the message.
   * @var string
   */
    public $FromName          = 'Sticky Readers';

  /**
   * Sets the Sender email (Return-Path) of the message.  If not empty,
   * will be sent via -f to sendmail or as 'MAIL FROM' in smtp mode.
   * @var string
   */
  public $Sender            = 'margaret@stickyreaders.com';

I didn’t notice a difference changing the $FromName variable to be honest, but since it was there I changed it and it didn’t break anything, so whatever.

Be sure to save your changes and do a comment and reply test to see if the emails you get come from the right FROM address.

NOTE: You may or may not need reapply the changes to your class-phpmailer.php file when you update/upgrade your WordPress theme. The last time I upgraded (12/14/2012 to WordPress 3.5) I did not have to make those changes.

Good luck!

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