Enable blocks in comments no longer available when upgrading Simple site to Atomic

[mgozdis]

Impacted plugin

Jetpack

Quick summary

The Enable blocks in comments setting becomes unavailable when upgrading a Simple site to Atomic and blocks can no longer be used in comments. This creates an inconsistent user experience when upgrading. This possibly affects all current AT sites, but I am not sure. None of my test AT sites display the setting currently.

This user had various settings change when going AT, but I'm only filing a bug report related to Verbum for now: 8762683-zd-a8c

This same user also experienced an issue 2 months ago where comments did not display at all while their site was still Simple until disabling and enabling "Enable blocks in comments": p2EDhh-2iu-p2

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a free site
2. Ensure Enable blocks in comments is enabled by default under Settings > Discussion
3. Upgrade to a Business plan and activate hosting features to go Atomic
4. Check Settings > Discussion or https://wordpress.com/settings/discussion/{siteurl} and see "Enable blocks in comments" is gone with no way to enable
5. Check comment forms on frontend and see blocks can't be used
6. Revert the site back to Simple and see the option return, allowing blocks to be used in comments again

A clear and concise description of what you expected to happen.

Settings for comments should remain the same when upgrading a Simple site to Atomic.

What actually happened

The settings change and become unavailable.

Impact

Most (> 50%)

Available workarounds?

No but the platform is still usable

If the above answer is "Yes...", outline the workaround.

No response

Platform (Simple and/or Atomic)

Atomic

Logs or notes

No response

[github-actions]

Support References

This comment is automatically generated. Please do not edit it.

• 8762683-zen

[anomiex]

Pinging @Automattic/vertex for visibility.

[zaguiini]

@heavyweight, would you mind walking me through the necessary steps to fix this problem?

[zaguiini]

📌 REPRODUCTION RESULTS

• Tested on Atomic – Replicated

Simple	Atomic

[heavyweight]

This is expected behaviour at the moment.
We didn't implement block support for commenting on atomic sites, that's why that option is not available.

[zaguiini]

@heavyweight so this (fbhepr%2Skers%2Swrgcnpx%2Scebwrpgf%2Scnpxntrf%2Swrgcnpx%2Qzh%2Qjcpbz%2Sfep%2Ssrngherf%2Sireohz%2Qpbzzragf%2Snffrgf%2Spynff%2Qireohz%2Qnqzva.cuc%3Se%3Q9s212812%23114%2Q119-og) is only for Simple?

We didn't implement block support for commenting on atomic sites, that's why that option is not available.

Any particular reason? Would it be a big lift?

[heavyweight]

@heavyweight so this (uggcf%3N%2S%2Suers.yv%2S%3Suggcf%3N%2S%2Sbcratebx.n8p.pbz%2Sfbhepr%2Skers%2Swrgcnpx%2Scebwrpgf%2Scnpxntrf%2Swrgcnpx%2Qzh%2Qjcpbz%2Sfep%2Ssrngherf%2Sireohz%2Qpbzzragf%2Snffrgf%2Spynff%2Qireohz%2Qnqzva.cuc%3Se%3Q9s212812%23114%2Q119-og) is only for Simple?

Correct

We didn't implement block support for commenting on atomic sites, that's why that option is not available.

Any particular reason? Would it be a big lift?

I think yes, it does require some work. We never got to it. If I remember correctly there were styling issues that needed fixing and maybe some other things that I can't remember at the moment.

[zaguiini]

I think yes, it does require some work. We never got to it. If I remember correctly there were styling issues that needed fixing and maybe some other things that I can't remember at the moment.

@inaikem do you think that'd require a project?

[inaikem]

Based on @heavyweight's comment, I'd say yes 👍