peter_quinn

@ditler’s solution worked for me. However, I also needed to replace =& new with = new in includes/manager.php.

I’ve determined that the problem occurs when a category or tag is no longer associated with a post. Deleting the category or tag from the master list does prevent the soft 404.

I would prefer to be able to turn this soft 404 behavior off completely. Any ideas?

For now I’ll just have to remember to go in and delete unused categories and tags every time I delete a post that has unique categories or tags.

Also, you can’t delete the “uncategorized” category. So that’s continuing to cause the soft 404 error in Google Webmaster Tools.

JennAtFFP has the best answer to the original question. It is best to avoid editing core files or parent theme files that may get overwritten with each update.

Creating the array can be a little tricky. You can find the variables around line 1525 of /wp-includes/comment-template.php, but don’t edit that file directly. Use a copy of comments.php in your child theme.

Here is another example that changes the “leave a reply” text, the message below it, and includes a variable for the required fields text.

<?php $required_text = sprintf( ‘ ‘ . __(‘Required fields are marked %s’), ‘<span class=”required”>*</span>’ ); comment_form(array(‘title_reply’=>’Leave a note…’,’comment_notes_before’=>'<p class=”comment-notes”>’ . __( ‘Your email address will not be published or shared.’ ) . ( $req ? $required_text : ” ) . ‘</p>”)); ?>