Some people say a blog is not a blog if it doesn't allow comments. Commenting is what connects you to the people. On some sites, like slashdot, comments can become more important than the post itself. So I did a ton of research on various commenting systems out there before implementing anything. Like usual, my quest to not re-invent the wheel ends up with me finding that most wheels are broken.
I considered using one of the hosted options: Disqus, Intense Debate, and JS-Kit. They have their own quirks, but they all provide the same service. (I also looked at sezwho, which offers something else, I'll will talk about it a different time).
Benefits: They handle all the details... hosting, spam control, user profiles, fancy features like threading and voting. All I have to do is drop some javascript on the page. Posts get shared with a whole community of other commenters, potentially bringing more traffic.
Negatives: Comments are directly tied to the page's url. If you change your blog's url, *poof*, the comments are gone. They can be slow to load, won't work without javascript, and won't display if the host is down. You have to use an API or other exporting method to get a copy of the comments for myself. They have thier own login system (although some support Open ID) which may be confusing to some people.
IMO, the negatives far outweigh the positives, so I implemented my own very simple commenting system. Right now I just ask for name and text. I may prompt for email or Open ID, just to be able to allow you to "claim" your comments in the future, but I don't see any reason to require it like most blogs do. Comments tend to attract spam bots, but I have stopped them in the past using a little trick I came up with (without needing an annoying CAPTCHA). I hope it works here too, we'll see.
Anyone know of any other commenting solutions/alternatives out there?
I considered using one of the hosted options: Disqus, Intense Debate, and JS-Kit. They have their own quirks, but they all provide the same service. (I also looked at sezwho, which offers something else, I'll will talk about it a different time).
Benefits: They handle all the details... hosting, spam control, user profiles, fancy features like threading and voting. All I have to do is drop some javascript on the page. Posts get shared with a whole community of other commenters, potentially bringing more traffic.
Negatives: Comments are directly tied to the page's url. If you change your blog's url, *poof*, the comments are gone. They can be slow to load, won't work without javascript, and won't display if the host is down. You have to use an API or other exporting method to get a copy of the comments for myself. They have thier own login system (although some support Open ID) which may be confusing to some people.
IMO, the negatives far outweigh the positives, so I implemented my own very simple commenting system. Right now I just ask for name and text. I may prompt for email or Open ID, just to be able to allow you to "claim" your comments in the future, but I don't see any reason to require it like most blogs do. Comments tend to attract spam bots, but I have stopped them in the past using a little trick I came up with (without needing an annoying CAPTCHA). I hope it works here too, we'll see.
Anyone know of any other commenting solutions/alternatives out there?
