If you have issues with the latest update (v.1.4), keep those feedback coming; please add them in the comments section below. I am currently working on the fix as of this moment.

The latest version is up at WP.org’s plugin repository. As mentioned in the README file:

1. Added the Award option which will display image or icon of a medal/badge once a commentator reaches a certain number of comments determined by blog owner.
2. Modified the form to allow default values to be entered automatically when initialized (i.e. widget’s Save button is pressed).
3. Added support for setting default Gravatars to 404, Mystery Man, Identicons, MonsterIDs or Wavatars.
4. Repaired the query statement for filtering e-mails.

Thanks to Konsti for the award/gaming suggestion. For now it only takes into account a single range. Hopefully in the future the widget can scan based on how active a commentator is, then award these users based on different levels of comments contributed.

Change number 2 is mainly for those who’ve complained that the top commentators wasn’t showing even after the widget is installed. Remember to go to the Widgets option, add the TCW in, and click the Save button to initialize its values. The widget won’t display anything if you do not press the Save button and get those default values entered into your WordPress options database.

A year ago, user iferg requested that the TCW supports other default Gravatars like Identicons, MonsterIDs and Wavatars. I finally had a chance to read up on this, and added that option into this widget.

Last, but not least, user ostin654 contributed a fix to the e-mail filtering bug, so I really appreciate that!

If you would like me to keep updating this WordPress plugin, I would like to ask just one thing from you – if you have a bug and/or a fix to report, or if you have modified the codes in any way that would benefit the TCW users, please share it with us. I’ll be sure to credit you and add those modifications in the next update. This would be the best way to continue making Top Commentators Widget useful and fun to use.

Please skip the rest of my post below; these are just notes to self so that I’ll remember how to update the TCW repo next time.

For new projects

1. Create a new folder in your computer.
2. Download and install TortoiseSVN.
3. Right-click on the new folder and select SVN Checkout.
4. Set the WP.org repository URL and WP.org login info.

To edit code

Change the stuff under the Trunk folder within the new folder you created.

To update code

Right-click on the new folder or the Trunk folder itself, and select SVN Commit to check the files in. Add in the message “Version #.#” in the message section.

To tag code

1. Create a new folder within the Tags folder, naming it with the same version number as your current HEAD/trunk.
2. Copy all files in Trunk and paste it in the Tags folder with the version number.
3. Right-click on the Tags folder and select SVN Commit.
4. Add in the message “Tagging version #.#” in the message section for housekeeping purposes.

If you have any doubt whether being a Top Commentator will actually bring visits from other blogs to your site, check out my Google Analytics’ Site Overlay report below.

Each bar represents the clicking popularity of the links in my site, in this case the main page. The humble WebGrrrl.net is viewed by around 1,200 unique visitors a month, and from the looks of it, one-third of the exit clicks from my site are made on the Top Commentators’ sites. (I have to note that my analytics for this month has dropped because I have forgotten to add the codes in when I did my site migration late last month; I only remembered to put it back in a couple of days ago.)

This goes to show that commenting more matters! Just remember, there is such thing as a blog commenting etiquette; don’t comment just for the sake of it, but make an effort and at least let it mean something to the blog owner. Otherwise, you’ll be turning yourself into a fool and may even get banned from the blog.

If you like to have a Top Commentators widget into your WordPress blog, it’s available at WebGrrrl.net for downloading.

Download Top Commentators Widget v.0.999.

Only one fix has been done to the widget, but this fix is a very big deal to all who are looking forward to using. That fix is the missing closing tag at the end of the code; in widget words, it’s the $after_widget placement.

I’m still not sure how to go about the one or two comments I got about the widget control form not displaying properly, and that’s too bad. I do appreciate it if anyone knows any fix to that; I did my best to copy the widget codes provided by default by Automattic.

Comments, bugs, suggestion — please comment under the original Top Commentators Widget post.