How can I automate manual review of comments blocked by the blacklist feature?

Automating the manual review process for comments that were blocked by the blacklist feature in WordPress can be achieved through the use of plugins or custom code. While the provided sources do not directly offer a solution for automating this process, they do hint at possibilities through the exploration of GitHub actions and workflows, which can be adapted for WordPress comment moderation.

Using Plugins

Akismet: While primarily known for spam filtering, Akismet can also help in moderating comments by automatically moving suspicious comments to the moderation queue. It uses a complex system of checks to determine if a comment is spam or not, reducing the need for manual review.

Comment Blacklist Manager: This plugin allows you to manage a blacklist of words, phrases, or IP addresses that trigger comment moderation. While it doesn’t automate the review process, it helps in managing the list of words and phrases that are automatically blocked.

Custom Solutions

For a more automated solution, you might consider developing a custom script or using a service that can interact with your WordPress site’s database to automatically review and approve or delete comments based on certain criteria. This could involve:

Using WordPress Hooks: You can write custom PHP code that hooks into WordPress’s comment processing functions to automatically review and approve comments that match certain criteria.

External Services: Integrating with external services that specialize in comment moderation, such as using APIs to analyze comments and make decisions based on the analysis.

GitHub Actions

While the sources do not provide a direct GitHub Actions workflow for WordPress, the concept of automating workflows on GitHub can be adapted for WordPress comment moderation. You could create a GitHub Action that:

Triggers on new comments.
Uses an external spam detection API to analyze the comment content.
Based on the analysis, automatically approves or holds the comment for moderation.

This approach requires a good understanding of WordPress hooks, external APIs, and possibly custom coding to integrate with GitHub Actions.

In summary, while there isn’t a direct out-of-the-box solution for fully automating the review process for blacklisted comments in WordPress, using plugins like Akismet or developing custom solutions with WordPress hooks and external services can help manage and reduce the manual effort required for comment moderation.