Back in May 2008, I tried out the Disqus (pronounced “discuss”) commenting system here on TPREG. That test failed for several reasons, primarily I didn’t like the fact that comments were stored only on the Disqus servers. I was concerned what would happen to the 13,000+ comments here should I wake up one day and Disqus was gone. Another show stopper for me was for someone to subscribe to comments, they were forced to join Disqus (which is free, but still).
A lot has changed with Disqus in the past 14 months, so I’ve decided to try it again.
- Comments are now “synched” with and retained in my WordPress SQL database. They are served from Disqus, but I can turn it off with a keystroke and revert instantly to the standard WordPress commenting system.
- The ability to subscribe to comments without having to join Disqus has been added. (and comment subscription is “double opt in” ”“ you’ll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription. This prevent losers from subscribing you to stuff you don’t want. Trust me, it happens.)
- Disqus comments are “SEO Friendly” ”“ the content still shows as part of the page in TPREG’s HTML. It is also friendly to those who have javascript disabled.
How to Comment with Disqus
It’s really no different than it used to be, though you have many more options. Here’s what the comment area looks like:
If you so desire (it’s completely your choice) you can log in via Disqus, Facebook, Twitter or OpenId. Using these services has benefits ”“ it will pull in your avatar so we can see your smiling face and you can post your comment to your Facebook profile, Tweet it, etc. This also helps with “community building” and exposure. It’s the web 2.0 way.
If you prefer, just as in the past, you can enter your name, email and website (optional) and leave a comment that way.
With a webcam and a Seesmic account, you can leave a video comment.
Cool Disqus Features
There are some pretty nifty features available with this system. Those that chose to get a free Disqus account will have links to their various social network profiles available to all readers:
All the comments you leave on Disqus enabled blogs (and there are a LOT of them) are saved to your Disqus profile. Ever left a masterpiece comment on a blog and forgot where it was? Or worse yet, the blog goes offline into the ether? No more worries, your comments are yours to keep and savor.
Click on the “Expand” link and a shadow box pops up with the commenters most recent comments.
Here is tdhurst’s full Disqus profile. It’s basically a collection of Tyler’s musings across the internet. Kinda cool.
Login with your Twitter ID, and you can send your comment as a Tweet.
So what?
In theory, this helps you “build your Twitter presence” and followers. It could also (selfishly) drive traffic back to the blog you’re tweeting from (the link in the Tweet points to your blog comment).
But wait, there’s more!
An oft requested feature that I’ve never been able to figure out how to do is provide the ability to subscribe to comments without having to leave a comment. Now you can do that. You can also subscribe to comments on specific posts via RSS. You can tag comments you “like” and even report them to the blog author (useful for helping your friendly blogger kill any spam that slips through). You can even change the sort order of comments.
Heck, you can even reply to comments through email or text messaging, and edit your comments any time you like.
Disqus from the Bloggers Perspective
Here’s a list of benefits for bloggers from the Disqus About page:
- Threaded comments and comment ratings
- Powerful moderation and admin tools
- Filter out spam, trolls, and unwanted commenters
- Enable your visitors to become a real community
- Moderation by email or mobile
- More comments and increased engagement
- Connected with a large discussion community
- Increased exposure and readership
Spam control looks to be very good. Several systems are used, including Aksimet (which most WordPress bloggers use). The comment admin interface is powerful, yet intuitive. And I love being able to administer comments via email!
One of the nice things about implementing this is the heavy coding is done by the experts at Disqus. Ever tried to get Facebook Connect implemented on a blog? It’ll drive you to empty a fifth of Jack Daniels. Now the real programmers do it and I just upgrade a plugin when they add new features.
The Drawbacks of Disqus
Learning to type “Disqus” instead of “Discuss” is hard.
Disqus comments are “nofollowed”. I’m not sure if this is good or bad. I did have comments “dofollowed” and the amount of spam I had to deal with increased significantly. It was becoming a huge time-sink to manage comments. In order to “share the Google love” with commenters, I’ll be installing a dofollow comment widget of some sort. I just need to find the right one.
The CommentLuv and KeywordLuv plugins don’t function in Disqus. These pulled in the commenters last blog post (most of the time) and allowed “hot linked” keywords in the commenters name field. Both also seemed to attract spammers by the boatload and didn’t really increase the frequency of quality comments. The CL “latest post” links were rarely clicked. Unfortunately, the old latest post links left behind some HTML in the Disqus comments. It’s cluttered, and I’ll be removing the extraneous HTML as time permits.
CommentLuv may return as that plugin’s author appears to be working to make it compatible with Disqus.
For those leaving comments here solely for the link love, sorry. But honestly, that’s a pretty lame reason to leave comments anywhere. Comments do help drive traffic to you and give you exposure, regardless of whether they are followed or not by search engines. Leave comments on blogs to engage with and enrich the community, and yourself, not just for a link that has marginal worth.
Installing Disqus
If you’re a blogger and you want to use (or try) Disqus, it’s pretty simple. Plugins and instructions are available for many blog platforms including WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Movable Type, Square Space, Drupal, Joomla and more.
So Give it a Whirl!
Do me a favor if you have a moment. Play around with the new commenting system. See if you can break it. Let me know what you like, and don’t like.
The Phoenix Real Estate Guy was started by Jay Thompson, and I have a little blogging problem... he liked to say...
Very cool. Hope you realize we'll all be asking for you help installing this on our WP accounts. What does this add to your site?
I like the ability to log in with your twitter account. Let us know how you like it Jay, will be interesting to see what you think. -Jeffrey
Let me know how it works on your end.
Testin 1-2-3, Testing 1-2-3- Looks like all is good. I was able to log onto my Discus profile pretty easily and I'm leaving this here comment. GO for it!
I just noticed that Disqus shows Tweets linking to your post (under "Reactions")http://twitpic.com/a69yd
Yep, it even pulled them in on some of my old posts when it imported them. Pretty cool….
Love it Jay! I gotta add this to geek estate blog soon.
Hey Jay, This is a great article, you've touched so many of the key strengths that are within Disqus. However this quote just makes me giggle."Ever tried to get Facebook Connect implemented on a blog? It’ll drive you to empty a fifth of Jack Daniels. Now the real programmers do it and I just upgrade a plugin when they add new features."GianniiDISQUSCommunity Manager[email protected]twitter.com/disqus
Almost went with Disqus but chose JS-Kit instead. Did you happen to make that comparison? Thx.
Hmm–I'm not sure what I think yet, but I'll give it a whirl. I may have to test DISQUS on my blog.
I played around with JS-Kit's rating and poll widgets in the past. Had some conflicts with my theme. To be fair, I think it was my theme, not JS-Kit, but it made me leery… Surely someone out there has a good side-by-side comparison of Disqus and JS (and Intense Debate).
Thanks for stopping by Giannii! I'm liking Disqus so far.Any plans to integrate Google Friend Connect?
it helps a lot for ppl…….. thanks a lot sharing wit us.___________________Jessicathe best price for the best entertainment
We're still talking about it. =)– GianniiDISQUSCommunity Manager[email protected]http://twitter.com/disqus
This is different…Pretty interesting though. You even have trackbacks at the bottom. Prescott Real Estate
I love WordPress, never have been a fan of Disqus though. It seems like there is just too much to it, I tend to prefer the plain jane commenting system that comes with WP. -Tyler
Wow, I miss a day and the whole world changes! Maybe I have some sort of filter but… when I tried Disqus using Firefox nothing would register. So I tried IE and it worked.I first tried it at sellsius.com last week… and gave up. But with you, I rolled up my sleeves and knew I could get it working. Anyone else having log-in issues using Disqus with Firefox?
I don't know how I feel about the new commenting system yet. Disqus has some nice features, but WP's was more simple and clean. You could also fix your comment quickly if you made a mistake.Celina Home Builder
I am a fan of the new system. Good work!
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It doesn't seem to mess with "thesis' but there are some themes that have some JS that really makes it bog down. I'm on the verge of switching myself–but the drawback as a frequentish commenter is that some of my blog comments are personal–should go to genuinechris, some the url wouldbe guerrilla.me …That's all.Really nice review though, a good example as ever.
Excellent site,Thanks for this great post – I will be sure to check out your blog more often.Just subscriped to your RSS feed..Home Insurance Reviews
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It is about on par with Akismet. I find that there are more attempts at spam, however, because Disqus increases the reach of comments–because of its automatic syndication and trackbacks and discussion boards, etc. it is a much juicier target for spammers.
nice blog, thanks for the post.
Do you worry about the No-follow aspect?Do you think the do-follow attribute drives most of your traffic/comments?
nice post, thanks for sharing
nice post, thanks for sharing
Jeff – I would like the Disqus comment system to have a do follow option, as it's a nice way to "share the link love" with commenters. But it doesn't (yet). Given that the vast majority of visitors never leave a comment, I'm not concerned at all about the effect nofollow has on traffic. And to be honest, commenting on a blog only for a do follow link is the last reason someone should comment.
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
nice post, thanks for sharing 🙂
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
nice post, thanks for sharing 🙂
nice
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
This will be a great combination… hope it run well..
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
Nice post..I have learn more about disqus comment system on real estate …thanks for the information..
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
Thanks for this information but I'm just worried about some of my comments are not posted on the blog.Why?
Doug Francis will be out of the office and not checking e-mail. If this is urgent, please contact John at [email protected] and he can help you out.Thanks!
No idea "SEO". They may be getting caught in a spam filter. With a commenting name like "SEO Miami", your comments may be considered spammy and get flagged. I've got several different filters in place here, and since I get hundreds of spam comments a day, I don't have time to go in and pull things out if they are flagged incorrectly.And as an SEO expert, surely you can tell that these comment links are no-followed, so it's not like you get "credit" for using keywords in your comment name. You might try using your real name and see if that doesn't get you past the spam filters.
Disqus is definitely the way to go. It is a great tool too use for any site
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Thanks for sharing. It is useful for me.
Thanks for sharing. It is useful for me.
Nice Post I already digged this
Thanks for such a nice post.Regards
I like how other users can flag other commentors, it kind of helps to keep the spammers posting viagra comments at bay
Yeah, sound great, it seems that Disqus has evolved greatly in the last year and for the better , think will you the commenting option for my <a rel="follow" href="http://www.rementor.com" rel="nofollow">real estate investing wordpress because is much cooler then the wordpress feature
Well Done! I Like it!
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