Trying Out an Interactive Commenting System

Posted March 18, 2010 | Laura Christianson

An increasing amount of blogs are implementing interactive commenting systems that encourage readers to engage in conversation — not just with the blog’s author, but with each other.

I’ve enjoyed participating in these forums on others’ blogs, and after evaluating several commenting systems, I installed Disqus (dis·cuss • dĭ-skŭs’), a free, easy-to-use comment moderation tool.

You can use Disqus on many popular platforms, including self-hosted WordPress (the platform I use), Blogger, Moveable Type, Tumblr, and more.

Disqus gives you all sorts of one-click customization options. It also ramps up social media sharing for the truly narcissistic by allowing commenters to broadcast their comments to their Facebook and Twitter feeds.

When I installed the Disqus plug-in, it captured the existing comments on my archived blog posts, so I didn’t lose any of my previous comments (you should back up your database before doing this, just in case).

So, let’s give Disqus a test-drive. In the Comments area of this post, tell us the most interesting thing you’ve done/learned in the last 24 hours.

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18 responses to “Trying Out an Interactive Commenting System”

  1. I'll get things rolling… the most interesting thing I've done during the last 24 hours is to plant about 2 dozen trees and perennials (with help from my teenage sons) in our “new” front yard. We hired a landscaper to give our yard a much-needed makeover, and we're planting all the trees and so forth ourselves to save money. We're more than halfway there, and so far, it looks awesome (I'll share before-and-after pix when we're completely finished).

  2. I'll get things rolling… the most interesting thing I've done during the last 24 hours is to plant about 2 dozen trees and perennials (with help from my teenage sons) in our “new” front yard. We hired a landscaper to give our yard a much-needed makeover, and we're planting all the trees and so forth ourselves to save money. We're more than halfway there, and so far, it looks awesome (I'll share before-and-after pix when we're completely finished).

  3. sefcug says:

    I installed Ubuntu 9.10 in VirtualBox, on my Vista Home Premium laptop yesterday at lunch time. Then, I hooked into WiFi at a meeting and updated everything (about a half hour) while attending a union meeting.
    So far, am liking it. Sound, internet, etc. all working fine, unlike Windows 7 RC I had previously been running in VirtualBox.

  4. sefcug says:

    I installed Ubuntu 9.10 in VirtualBox, on my Vista Home Premium laptop yesterday at lunch time. Then, I hooked into WiFi at a meeting and updated everything (about a half hour) while attending a union meeting.
    So far, am liking it. Sound, internet, etc. all working fine, unlike Windows 7 RC I had previously been running in VirtualBox.

  5. Those union meetings truly encourage productivity, don't they? (usually, though, in ways the union leaders don't foresee).