Test over. I love Disqus, but I’m back to the WordPress comment system.
Here’s what I loved about Disqus, why it might work great for you, and why I turned it off (at least for now).
The Awesome
- Disqus handles filtering comments, auto approves and generally takes care of a lot of the admin side of comment management. It did save me time. For this reason alone it’ll stay a possibility for the future.
- The layout is beautifully clean. I like that. It just looks neat and orderly.
- It allows sign in through multiple sites, helping improve your reach into the social networks.
- It brings in Tweets as reactions and lists them below the comments. Awesome for social proof as well as a nice little ego-boost.
The Less-Awesome
- It didn’t work for everyone. I’ve had more than one regular commenter unable to leave comments. This makes me sad. Troubleshooting it isn’t easy unless I want to go through 20 questions (what browser are you using, are cookies turned on, is javascript turned on, are you signed into Disqus, are you signed into social sites, etc — no one should have to go through that to leave a comment). And if a few people have emailed to tell me about it, how many have gotten frustrated and left without commenting?
- It doesn’t show trackbacks. I like knowing if I’ve been talked about somewhere else. They still show up in WordPress and I can moderate them there so it’s not a huge deal, but it’d be nice if they were handled in Disqus.
- I had to give up CommentLuv (the plugin that shows the poster’s last blog post below their comment). I love, love, love CommentLuv. It’s awesome. It makes it easy for me to visit my commenters.
- Also had to give up the Twitter Link below usernames and I found I missed that more than I expected. I really like to connect with my commenters on Twitter and get familiar with their names/IDs.
- Gravatars weren’t showing up. I have no idea why. I miss seeing faces though.
Some of these are probably settings issues. I’ve played with it some but I haven’t been motivated enough to really mess with it — so in other words, I didn’t give it a totally fair chance and you shouldn’t hold this against it. Some may be related to my theme (although it’s a popular premium theme and I have to think it was tested with Disqus at some point). And most are really minor (except the top one and the CommentLuv one). In fact, the awesome almost outweighs the less awesome list. It’s really close. I can see Disqus being the perfect solution at some point in the future for me–especially if they implement something like CommentLuv.
Did you like Disqus here or are you happy I’m back to CommentLuv and WP powered comments? I’m willing to keep re-thinking this one.
But for now I’ve pulled my comments back out of Disqus. CommentLuv is back. So comment away and get links back to your site, your last blog post, plus a link to your Twitter.
I’d love to hear your two cents on comment management. Do you prefer a system like Disqus with the profiles and other cool features? Or have you stuck with what’s built into your blog and just added plugins for more functionality?
Michelle has been online since the late 80s, creating websites since the early 90s, and has coded thousands of web pages in that time. She's worked as a virtual assistant and website designer for small business owners including marketers, authors, coaches, crafters, and other solopreneuers.
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Twitter: DressingMyTruth
says:
I like this much better because it remembers me and all I have to do is type in my comment. Good on ya!
Jeanine
Last blog ..One Thousand Gifts- Chapter Three
Twitter: MichelleShaeffr
says:
Good to know, Jeanine, thanks!
Me too. I hated Disqus with a passion :)
I need to do the comment luv thing on my blog too!!! And someone asked me to put a little button that you click to tweet this (I said I don’t know how but will ask the Tech-Expert (YOU!))
Last blog ..You are not alone
P.S> This is exactly what I always think
And if a few people have emailed to tell me about it, how many have gotten frustrated and left without commenting?
Last blog ..You are not alone
Twitter: MichelleShaeffr
says:
Here’s CommentLuv – http://comluv.com/download/commentluv-wordpress/
For Twitter there are lots of choices. :) Here are some to checkout:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tweetmeme/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sharebar/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/new-twitter-button/
Twitter: 32mari
says:
I like this way better with comment luv. the disqus, sorry i ahted when someone has that for leaving comments because it is a huge hassle. btw, i tried to get comment luv to work on my blog, but cant get it to work, maybe because its blogspot?
Last blog ..Cake Pops
Twitter: MichelleShaeffr
says:
Hey Mari, I’m not too familiar with Blogger but if I understand correctly it allows Intense Debate and then ComLuv is a plugin for that: http://comluv.com/download/commentluv-blogger/ Hope this helps! :)