Hi Rick,
Well, honestly you always run a risk when you change themes. The only thing you are supposed to lose (supposedly) is any customization you do like widgets and things. As for themes to stay away from depending on the theme, they all can be different, work differently and don't load as fast. The problem is you normally won't know this until you've already changed. If you have any trouble you should try and get support to help you from the theme.

Hi Rick-I changed my theme and lost my comments once, but I contacted Site Support and they were able to retrieve them for me. Some theme changes I didn't loose the comments. Good luck.

Hi Rick,

As Jewelia stated your comments should transfer along with all your content when you change themes (I've changed themes a million times with no problems).

It's always a good idea to back it up first just in case - if you have many posts, you don't want to lose those!

When it comes to themes to avoid, anything on the WordPress platform is good however, some themes are kinda old and may not be updated regularly.

Here is what I do when I want to change a theme:

1. Make sure the description states it is RESPONSIVE. You want people to be able to access and read your website from any device. Google is also looking for this when it crawls and ranks your site. Sites that are not responsive may not get indexed.

2. Look to see when it was last updated. If it's been more than say, 4-6 months, I'd move on and look for another.

3. This is a new requirement for me - making sure you can add an an email opt-in form. At first having the ability to create an email list may not seem important but as time goes on, you will want this.

Hope this helps!

Susan

Hi Rick,

Changing the theme should not erase the comments, but I would still recommend to back up your website before changing the theme. You can do a full backup, or simply export all content via "Tools/ Export" menu. This will export the comments too.

I don't have an answer to the second part of your question, sorry.

~ Julia