Settings reference
Every option lives on one page: Components → QuillThreads → Settings. The page is split into tabs that match the groups below. Permissions are the exception; they are managed through Joomla's own permissions screen and are covered in Permissions.
You do not need to set anything to start. Defaults are listed so you know what you are getting.
General
Core behaviour and presentation of the thread.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable comments | On | Master switch. When off, no article renders a thread. |
| Thread mode | Threaded | Nested replies, or a flat chronological list. |
| Maximum nesting depth | 4 | How deep replies can nest (1 to 10). Deeper replies attach at the limit. |
| Comments per page | 20 | Top-level threads loaded per page (5 to 100). |
| Default sort order | Newest first | Newest, oldest, or top (most upvoted). |
| Lazy-load the thread | On | Load comments only when the reader scrolls near them. |
| Colour theme | Auto | Auto follows the device, or force light or dark. See Appearance. |
| Accent hue | 280 | An OKLCH hue (0 to 360) that drives the accent colour. |
Posting
Who can comment, how comments are written, and what they can contain.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Who can comment | Everyone | Guests and registered users, or registered users only. |
| Allow guest comments | On | When on, visitors who are not logged in can post with a name and email. |
| Comment formatting | Plain text | Plain text, Markdown, or limited HTML. Every body is sanitised regardless. |
| Edit window (minutes) | 15 | How long an author may edit their own comment. 0 disables editing. |
| Maximum length | 5000 | Characters per comment. 0 means no limit. |
| Maximum links per comment | 2 | Extra links are unwrapped to plain text. |
| Enable up/down votes | On | Adds vote arrows and the "Top" sort. |
| Enable emoji reactions | Off | Adds emoji reactions to each comment. |
| Enable attachments | Off | Lets commenters attach files, stored through the Shondalai Core storage service. |
Moderation
How new comments are held, approved, and auto-actioned. The full workflow is in Moderation.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Moderation mode | Hold guest comments only | Hold everything, guests only, a user's first comment only, or publish immediately. |
| Auto-approve registered users | Off | Skip the queue for signed-in members. |
| Auto-approve after N approved comments | 3 | Trust a user automatically once they have this many approved comments. 0 disables. |
| Hold comments containing links | On | Send link-bearing comments to the queue. |
| Auto-unpublish after N reports | 3 | Hide a comment once it reaches this many open reports. 0 disables. |
| Report reasons | spam, harassment, off_topic, inappropriate, other | One reason key per line. |
Anti-spam
Honeypot, rate limits, and content filters. See Anti-spam.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Honeypot field | On | A hidden field that bots fill and humans never see. |
| Minimum dwell time (seconds) | 3 | Reject submissions faster than this. Bots fill forms instantly. |
| Minimum seconds between comments | 30 | Per-author throttle. |
| Max comments per hour | 10 | Per-author cap. |
| Max comments per day | 50 | Per-author cap. |
| Blocked words | (empty) | One word or phrase per line. Matching comments are held or rejected. |
| Blocked link domains | (empty) | One domain per line. |
| CAPTCHA plugin | (none) | The Joomla CAPTCHA plugin element to require for guests. |
Privacy
Consent, IP handling, and data retention. See Privacy and GDPR.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Require privacy consent | On | Show a consent checkbox linked to your policy. |
| Privacy policy URL | (empty) | The page the consent prompt links to. |
| Store commenter IP address | Store hashed | Do not store, store hashed, or store in plain text. |
| IP retention (days) | 60 | After this many days, IP data is anonymised. 0 keeps it indefinitely. |
| Anonymised display name | Deleted user | The name shown in place of a removed commenter. |
Notifications
Email notifications and the branding applied to them. See Email and notifications.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Notify moderators of new comments | On | Email moderators when a comment needs attention. |
| Moderator email addresses | (empty) | One address per line. Blank uses the site admins. |
| Notify the article author | On | Email the author when their article gets a comment. |
| Queue email for background sending | On | Send through the Shondalai Core email queue rather than inline. |
| Email brand name | (empty) | Shown in the email header. |
| Email brand subtitle | (empty) | Optional line under the brand name. |
| Email brand logo | (empty) | Logo shown in the email header. |
| Email brand colour | #4f46e5 | Accent colour used in emails. |
| Email footer text | (empty) | Footer line in every notification. |
| Support URL | (empty) | Linked from the email footer. |
AI moderation
AICore-powered scoring and summaries. This is optional and requires a connected shondalai.com account. See AI moderation.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable AI moderation | Off | Score comments with the connected AI service. |
| Scan new comments on post | On | Score each comment as it is posted. Off scores only via the background task and the moderator button. |
| Let AI auto-hold comments | Off | Hold a comment automatically when it scores above the threshold. AI never deletes. |
| Auto-hold score threshold | 70 | Comments scoring at or above this (0 to 100) are held when auto-hold is on. |
| Show AI discussion summaries | On | A short public summary once a thread has enough comments. |
| Summary threshold | 5 | Minimum published comments before the summary appears. |
| Refresh after new comments | 5 | Regenerate the summary after this many more published comments. |
Developer
For working on the bundled React apps. Leave these off on a live site. See Troubleshooting if you ever see a "dev server not reachable" notice.
| Setting | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vite dev mode | Off | Load the React apps from a Vite dev server instead of built assets. |
| Dev mode scope | Admin + Site | Which side loads from the dev server. |
| Dev server URL | http://localhost:5182 | Where the Vite dev server is running. |
Saving
Changes apply as soon as you save. There is no separate publish step. If a setting does not seem to take effect on the front end, do a hard refresh to clear the browser cache of the comment assets.