How to comment

From time to time some people will sometimes have some problems commenting on some posts on this blog. In other words, it’s erratic. I thought I’d mention how it should work so if it doesn’t, it’ll be easier to tell me what’s wrong.

This blog uses the Disqus commenting system, something I converted to almost two years ago to fight the epidemic of spam comments I faced every single day. It solved that problem completely.

However, nothing on the Internet is perfect, and sometimes Disqus, too, doesn’t work properly. Here’s what should happen.

There are several options available for commenting. As you can see in the example at left, someone who isn’t signed in to Disqus is greeted with the option of signing in with—left to right—Disqus, Facebook, Twitter or Google. Someone who doesn’t want to use any of those options can still comment.

Simply click on “Id rather post as a guest”, as in the image at right. Enter a name—any name, your real name or a nickname, it doesn’t matter—then enter an email address. According to Disqus, “Guest commenters are required to provide an email address for notifications and moderation purposes. However the email address will of course never be displayed and does not require verification.” Among other things, entering this helps prove you’re not a spambot.

Click on that white arrow in a gray box and your comment will instantly be posted—there’s no moderation before posting. That’s it.

I strongly recommend using one of the sign-in options for commenting, and for several reasons. First, it allows you to include a link to your profile to help people find your blog or site. Second, and particularly if you sign in with Disqus itself, you can look at your comments across all sites using Disqus, and can even have a digest of comments—yours and replies to you—emailed to you if you want. It’s a great way to put the “social” in social media.

All the sign-in methods are used all over the Internet, but I realise that some people are reluctant to sign in through Facebook. Others may not like using Twitter or Google, either. Disqus is a commenting system that’s widely used and it doesn’t link to your Facebook or other social media identities, so it seems to me it’s a good alternative to logging in through a social media account.

Whether you log-in to comment or comment as a guest, the system will probably work more often than not. If it doesn’t, it could be a temporary glitch, or you may have attempted to log-in rather than comment as a Guest.

But if you try to comment and have problems, I’d like to hear about it. You can send me an email by clicking on the email link in the right sidebar, under “Contact Me”.

Part of the fun of blogging is having a conversation with the blogger and other readers. Disqus is supposed to help facilitate that. Mostly, it does. I hope it works for you, too.