For most of the time WinExtra has been around and accepting comments from our readers I have used the default commenting system with a slight modification to allow for the comments to appear in a threaded manner. As of today I have changed that to utilize the new comment management system from Disqus.
This new service from Disqus is still in development stage and as such doesn’t have a way to import any existing comments; although Daniel has told me that this is a priority for them to get in place. In the meantime the new comment system will only be available for any new comments being made on posts.
I have it set up without any moderation of comments as that is how I had the previous system set up as well. However new commenters will be asked for their name and email address before their comments will be displayed.
By default the Disqus comments are displayed in a threaded view with the newest comments at the top of the pile. the other thing is that if you have an account with Disqus you will be able to assign a picture for your avatar that will be able to be displayed with your comment. Along with that you will notice both an up and down arrow beside each avatar which you can use to score that value of the comment.
One advantage of having a Disqus account is that it will follow you as you visit other blogs that also support Disqus and you can get an RSS feed for both the blogs and the comments made from each of the blogs you post comments to. For a better explanation of how it all works you can drop by the Disqus FAQ page and read through to get a better idea.
The reason I went with Disqus is because I believe they have a lot of interesting things coming that will make it easier for both bloggers and readers to keep track of their comments over the larger blogosphere landscape and make it more interesting to be involved with the blogs you like to read.
Now as soon as they get the import of old comments in place I will be upgrading that part of the WinExtra comments. In the mean time I hope you find this an easier way to get involved and voice your opinions about the things I write about here on WinExtra.
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Thanks for coming on board, Steven!
I'm just testing out the comment count to verify.
wow .. nice to see quick responses. It's interesting as that it first displays “View Comments” and then changes to “#n Comments”
excellent work Daniel .. thanks
I see you've chosen Disqus. Did you happen to take a look at something called Intense Debate? I got an email from both of these companies telling me how great they were and what they offered.
I'd be interested in knowing if your Akismet spam filter ends up taking a break after replacing the commenting system. I'd also like to know if you get any spam through this new commenting form you're using.
I had a look at all three – Disqus, sezWho and Intense Debate. I went with Disqus because – well I can't really give a difinative reason other than I like the system.
As for your other questions I'll have to get back to you after using it for awhile.
one other reason why I went with Disqus is because they have also included the ability to have an integrated forums and in my talks with Daniel there is a possiblity of being able to import existing forums into their system which for me would be a great thing .. especially considering the time saving Admin wise.
one other reason why I went with Disqus is because they have also included the ability to have an integrated forums and in my talks with Daniel there is a possiblity of being able to import existing forums into their system which for me would be a great thing .. especially considering the time saving Admin wise.
Sounds awesome Steve. Have you given some thought as to what you would do in case the commenting system you're using goes out of business? Sure, you might be able to import comments from your blog into the commenting system, but is there really a way to export comments from the system back into WordPress.
Just wondering what your thoughts are on the risk of losing a ton of comments due to the company going out of business.
Right now Disqus has the methods to export any comments within their system so that you can import into your native blog comments.
It is the import from your comment system into the Disqus one that they are working on right now. Apparently they haven't wanted to rush the process in order to make sure that they get it right.
Damn, if that's the case, I can see why you would go ahead and give them a shot. You may have convinced me to give the Disqus service a try. The only thing I don't like about this so far is that, anonymous posters such as myself have no way to subscribe to the post to be notified of new comments. Perhaps you can find a way to combine Disqus with the Comment Subscribe plugin in WordPress?
I guess that would be the whole point of Disqus, really, because they WANT their users to register and be known. That is, as far as I've gathered from the Disqus review in here, and the Disqus homepage, central idea.. a community of bloggers and commenters.
actually Jeffro there is a much simpler way to do what you want. If you look just under the main (top) text entry are you will see to links that will give you the RSS feed to both track comments and also of the Comment stream for that post.
What I do in FeedDemon is have a separate folder which is where I put all the comment feeds I am following from posts I have commented on.
The nice thing I find so far with disqus is that there are so many way to pull RSS from right across their system.
One of the other things that is good about the Disqus system is commentors can have a points system – or Clout as Disqus calls it which can raise a commenter's standing within the Disqus comment ecosphere.
From their FAQ on what clout is and how it is used:
actually Jeffro there is a much simpler way to do what you want. If you look just under the main (top) text entry are you will see to links that will give you the RSS feed to both track comments and also of the Comment stream for that post.
What I do in FeedDemon is have a separate folder which is where I put all the comment feeds I am following from posts I have commented on.
The nice thing I find so far with disqus is that there are so many way to pull RSS from right across their system.
One of the other things that is good about the Disqus system is commentors can have a points system – or Clout as Disqus calls it which can raise a commenter's standing within the Disqus comment ecosphere.
From their FAQ on what clout is and how it is used: