Owner Replies

Owner replies let the member who received a review answer it. The answer shows right under the review, so visitors see both sides. It is a good way for members to thank people or respond calmly to criticism.

What it looks like

Under a review, the reply appears in its own box with the owner’s picture, their name, a small “Owner Response” label, the date, and the text.

Turn it on or off

Owner replies are on by default.

1. Go to WB Plugins > Member Reviews and open the General tab.
2. Find Owner Replies (“Allow profile owners to respond once to each review they receive.”).
3. Switch it on or off.
4. Click Save Changes.

When it is off, the reply button is gone and existing replies are hidden. Replies are not deleted, so switching it back on brings them back.

How a member replies

1. Log in and open your own profile.
2. Click the Reviews tab.
3. Find the review you want to answer and click Reply to this review.
4. Type your answer in the box that says “Write your response…”.
5. Click Submit Reply. Click Cancel to close the box without sending.

The reply appears at once. There is no approval step.

Rules

Rule	Detail
One reply per review	After a reply is posted, the button disappears. The reply cannot be edited or replaced from the front of the site.
Profile owner only	Only the member who received the review sees the reply button.
Published reviews only	A review that is pending approval or hidden cannot be replied to.
Reviews list and single review	The reply and the reply button show on the Reviews tab list and on the single review page opened by “read more…” or from a notification.

Good to know

• The reviewer gets a BuddyPress notification, “Alex replied to your review”, that opens the review with the reply. It follows the BuddyPress Notifications switch. No email is sent.
• There is no screen in the admin to edit or remove a reply. If you must remove one, ask a developer to delete the bupr_owner_reply custom field of that review.
• If you trash a review, its reply goes with it.

Step by step setup: Let members reply to reviews.