The site settings were when only a new person comments, its held, all previously approved posters are allowed.
Please double double check that setting, in case it got changed during update.
If that setting is correct, then try:
– deactivating ALL (yes all) plugins temporarily to see if this resolves the problem (plugin functions can interfere). If this works, re-activate them individually (one-by-one) to find the problematic plugin(s).
– switching to the unedited default Theme (Twenty Sixteen, etc.) for a moment using the WP dashboard to rule out any theme-specific issue (theme functions can interfere like plugins).
– MANUALLY updating. Download a fresh copy of the WordPress .zip file to your computer, unzip it, and use that to copy up all files and folders EXCEPT the wp-config.php file and the /wp-content/ directory. You may need to delete the old wp-admin and wp-includes folders and files on your server before uploading the new ones. Please read the Manual Update directions first.
– Backup: If you haven’t already done, always backup everything (including your database) before doing any actions, just in case something really goes wrong. You can never have enough backups!
