Todd Lahman

The first “Leave a reply” is a line inside your comments.php file that can be removed. The second “Leave a reply” is automatically generated by the WordPress comment_form function.

Insert the line of code below into your custom_functions.php file:

add_action('headway_before_comments', 'tl_spam_free_wordpress_comments_form');

Also turn off Pingbacks and Trackbacks, and download the Auto Close Pingbacks and Trackbacks at the bottom of the page located at https://www.toddlahman.com/spam-free-wordpress/.

Spam Free WordPress only blocks comment spam, and not Pingback and Trackback spam which will look exactly like comment spam.

Your web host, or you, will need to apply write permission to the comments.php file.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Changing_File_Permissions

In the comments.php file find this line:

<p><input type="text" name="url" id="url" value="<?php echo $comment_author_url; ?>" size="22" tabindex="3" /> <label for="url"><?php echo gp_website ?></label></p>

After the line above, insert the line below:

<p><?php if(function_exists ('tl_spam_free_wordpress_comments_form')) { tl_spam_free_wordpress_comments_form(); } ?></p>

On the Spam Free WordPress settings page you can then change the Password Field Size to 22, and the Tab Index to 4.

I just visited your post, and the comment form has the Spam Free WordPress password displayed as it should. Everything is working. I even left the comment: “tested with the spam free wordpress password by Todd Lahman.”

If this is your pastebin: https://pastebin.com/CPCY3Mx5, then your comments.php file already has everything it needs to work automatically with Spam Free WordPress.

Install the latest version of Spam Free WordPress plugin.
Activate the plugin.
Empty your web browser cache, and blog cache (if it has one like WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache for example).

That’s it.

A link to a post on your site so I can see the comment form would be nice.

First back up your comments.php file in case things don’t work as expected when you make these changes.

Find this block of code in your comments.php file:

<?php
$defaults = array(
	'id_form'              => 'comment-form',
	'id_submit'            => 'submit',
	'title_reply'          => __( 'Leave a Reply', 'nattywp' ),
	'title_reply_to'       => __( 'Leave a Reply to %s', 'nattywp' ),
	'cancel_reply_link'    => __( 'Cancel reply', 'nattywp' ),
	'label_submit'         => __( 'Post Comment', 'nattywp' )
);

comment_form($defaults); ?>

Replace the above block of code with this block of code below:

<?php comment_form(); ?>

In the comments.php file find this line:

<label for="url"><?php _e('Website'); ?></label>
<input type="text" name="url" id="website" class="text" value="<?php echo $comment_author_url; ?>" size="22" tabindex="3" />

After the line above, insert the line below:

<?php if(function_exists ('tl_spam_free_wordpress_comments_form')) { tl_spam_free_wordpress_comments_form(); } ?>

On the Spam Free WordPress settings page you can then change the Password Field Size to 22, and the Tab Index to 4.

Make a backup copy of your comments.php file, then replace all the code in the comments.php file with the code below, which will allow Spam Free WordPress to automatically insert the password field, and for the comment form to be automatically be generated by WordPress:

https://pastebin.com/2V39rAUJ

The code starts at line 203. Unless you really know what you’re doing I would not recommend making changes.

It appears in your case Spam Free WordPress will not work if you don’t upgrade WordPress. The links below may help:

https://www.nerdgrind.com/wordpress-automatic-upgrade-plugin-failed-or-not-working/

https://www.nerdgrind.com/how-to-upgrade-wordpress-from-the-command-line-in-two-steps/

Follow the directions for WordPress 2.8 or 2.9 located at https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/spam-free-wordpress/installation/

You should upgrade to the latest version of WordPress. The upcoming version of Spam Free WordPress will require 3.0 or above.

No core changes are needed, or even changes in the plugin. The WordPress theme controls the comment form. A line could be added just above the Name form field, for example. that explains the password requirement, and that line can be added in the comments.php file.

That confirms it is a theme related issue.

Glad it is working for you now.

The issue is theme related. Try a different theme, then see if the password loads for both posts in the form.

You can also edit each post and look under Custom Fields to see if the Name sfw_comment_form_password exists with a password for each post.