Out of the box, WordPress(self hosted) has a nice commenting system, but with many things in technology you can play with it and modify it as and how you please to make it even more spectacular. This WordPress Wednesday features 10 Free WordPress Plugins to spruce up your comment box.

1. Sticky Comments

This plugin allows you to do the following:

• Allow you to set comments as Sticky from the comment edit page
• Re-does the order in which the comments are shown, putting the sticky comments at the top. You can also change the order of comments ( newest first / oldest first )
• You can put either a text or an image on the left / right of the sticky comments author

2. Disqus Comment System

Disqus, pronounced “discuss”, is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community.

The Disqus for WordPress plugin seamlessly integrates using the Disqus API and by syncing with WordPress comments.

3. Top Commentators Widget

The Top Commentators Widget a sidebar widget to show the top commentators in your WP site. Adapted from Show Top Commentators plugin at Personal Financial Advice, this widget is easier to manage via the control form (no need to edit the PHP file); additional options are also available to make it more flexible. Read the FAQ section on how to customize the widget.

4. Live Comment Preview

Live Comment Preview (LCP) allows your users to see how their comment will appear on the site as they type it. Uses client-side Javascript only (no Ajax requests to the server) which means a responsive, smooth, live comment preview.

5. Facebook AWD All in one

Facebook AWD is an all in one Facebook capabilities for wordpress. Easy to install. Add Socials plugins, OpenGraph, Comments, FB connect and more. Publish your content to all your FB pages and on your personnal wall on Facebook Add Like button and comments to pages, posts and custom posts types, at top, bottom or both. Widgets and Shortcodes available for each Facebook socials plugins. Works in Facebook Tabs and Facebook Canvas! Use both SDK’s PHP AND Javascript

6. Stop Junk

Stops spam on comments box. User needs to enter result of a simple math problem in a text box before posting a comment. User will only be prompted if not logged in. It’s a simple to use plugin that won’t leave your user frustrated when trying to post.

7. CommentLuv

Reward your readers by automatically placing a link to their last blog post at the end of their comment. Encourage a community and discover new posts.

8. qTranslate Separate Comments

This plugin separates the user comments by the language they viewed the article in – this way you avoid duplicate content(which is frowned-upon from search engines) and comments in other languages than the one the current visitor is using(which is generally bad user experience).

9. Admin Commenters Comments Count

Next to all appearances of each commenter’s name in the admin, this plugin shows a count of their total number of comments, linked to a listing of those comments.  By default in WordPress, it is not possible to tell via a single glance whether a particular commenter has commented before, and if so, how many times.

10. IntenseDebate Comments

ntenseDebate Comments enhance and encourage conversation on your blog or website. Custom integration with your WordPress admin panel makes moderation a piece of cake. Comment threading, reply-by-email, user accounts and reputations, comment voting, along with Twitter and friendfeed integrations enrich your readers’ experience and make more of the internet aware of your blog and comments which drives traffic to you!

Full comment and account data sync between Intense Debate and WordPress ensures that you will always have your comments stored locally on your own server.