Better comments system? – Brent Knowles

I’m noticing a lot of the blogs I read are using more sophisticated comments systems than the default WordPress one I am using.

Is there a standard emerging? Or close to a standard that I should be considering to use here instead of the default? Or if no standard what are your favorites and why? I’ve taken a look at some of the plugins available and they see interesting but I’d rather only change my comment system once.

Any suggestions?

5 Comments

Cliff Riseborough

July 22, 2010 at 6:12 pm

I added the Disqus system to mine after seeing it in use over at the Empire Building Network. It’s a nice system that isn’t too tough to put in.

For WordPress, there’s a plugin called Disqus Comment System that you need to install, you create a Disqus account, link your blog to it, Export your comments to Disqus and…done. You can tweak what other logins you want people to be able to use to leave a comment (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), and if you run miltiple blogs, you can do all of your moderation and replying from the the Disqus site.

Brent Knowles

July 22, 2010 at 6:40 pm

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

chris

July 22, 2010 at 7:30 pm

Yeah, it’s a toss up for me between Disqus and IntenseDebate. They both have similar feature sets, enabling people to log in to comment via alternate platforms (like Facebook Connect, Twitter, etc). I tend to favor IntenseDebate because they have third-party plugins and integrate with Akismet (IntenseDebate was acquired by Automattic a little over a year ago, I think), but I think Disqus has a bit of a broader range and user base and cross-pollinates more than IntenseDebate (i.e. there’s a big community of bloggers/readers using Disqus that have been for a while and follow each other around to other blogs/networks).

The only downside to moving your commenting system to a third party site (like Disqus or IntenseDebate) is that you’re offloading that part of your site to another server, which will inevitably slow down your site at least a little bit. In my experience, this seems to affect IntenseDebate somewhat more than Disqus although they’ve made some improvements in that regard. Either way, though, your built-in WP commenting system will always be faster than any 3rd party.