How WordPress Handles Moderated Comments
For a long time people (trolls usually) have been coming to the conclusion that there is some nefarious undertaking here to make some comments appear only to the person that writes it and no one else.
In fact this does happen but it is simply the way WordPress works and there is no administrative option to change it while retaining the ability to moderate comments before they are published.
If for any reason your comment enters the moderation queue it will appear in the comment list to you and no one else until it leaves the moderation queue by being approved or disapproved. There is no message to the user that his comment is in the moderation queue.
There are various ways comments enter the moderation queue. Among them, comments from newly registered users are all automatically routed to moderation and comments from counter-productive users are often all routed to moderation. So if you think you’re in any way not contributing in a positive way to the ID movement you are likely being moderated and your comments are not visible to anyone but you until a moderator gets around to looking at it.
Another way comments may enter the moderation queue is by containing common spam words like
blackjack
gambling
dating
poker
We also use the Akismet spam filter which has internal and external blacklists. Comments caught in the Akismet spam filter are sent to a separate spam bin and don’t appear even to the author. Spam is a big problem with automated programs creating registered users then blasting advertisements for prescription drugs, loans, online gambling sites, porn, and a whole host of things into the comments. A cottage industry exists for blog plugins that detect and eliminate spam. Akismet has stopped literally many thousands of these types of comments from appearing here. I highly recommend it.