Disqus Comment System

Just in the last two days I’ve decided to make some fairly sweeping changes to the commenting system on this blog and have installed the Disqus Comment System. This video is a basic overview of what Disqus is, how you set it up (primarily from the standpoint of self-hosted WordPress blogs), as well as a discussion on the implications that the framework has for readers as well as site owners.

Disqus describes itself as:

“Disqus, pronounced “discuss”, is a service and tool for web comments and discussions. The Disqus comment system can be plugged into any website, blog, or application. Disqus makes commenting easier and more interactive, while connecting websites and commenters across a thriving discussion community.”

How it works

Disqus establishes tremendous opportunities for both site owners/bloggers and readers/commenters alike in that it expands the available functionality far above and beyond the traditional text-based commenting structures found natively in most blogs.

Information from Disqus profiles is accessible from blogs and websites

This includes the option to link to personal profiles elsewhere on the web, connect with friends and colleagues and thus facilitate discussion, and ultimately retain far greater ownership over your comments than exists in traditional commenting frameworks since everything you say is aggregated against a profile on the Disqus website.  For example, this is my Disqus profile.

Network and Community Formation

One of the key outcomes of this framework is the opportunity for network development at both the blog level and the user level.  This is due to the fact blogs and users are equally represented in the framework and can thus become nodes in their own right.

As part of the set-up process each blog is given its own community area on the Disqus website (here is the one for this blog).  Not only does this enable users to quickly view and respond to comments (which are tied back into the blog), the community area also displays statistical information regarding Top Commenters and Popular Threads.  The increased focus on the individual in this framework means that readers are able to connect with one another – thus facilitating the development of networks and communities within and across blogs and sites.  Effectively the users start to become hubs for the discussion as much as sites are.

Synchronised Comments

Of critical significance for WordPress users (which forgot to mention in the video) is the fact that Disqus now synchronises comments between your WordPress blog and the Disqus site.  In the past when you replaced the native WordPress commenting framework with Disqus, all comments were stored on the Disqus website.  Personally this is the reason I never adopted it earlier; it seemed too great a risk to store the comments elsewhere.  With comments stored on both Disqus and WordPress, if you decide to revert to the native comments  at some stage – or otherwise need to deactivate the plugin – you are not going to lose all the discussion that took place while Disqus was implemented.

Many Platforms Supported

This is not to say that Disqus is restricted to WordPress.  The framework supports a variety of other platforms, including Blogger, Movable Type, Tumblr, and hosted WordPress.com blogs.  “Hacks” for other platforms have been developed as well.

There is a plethora of information available on the Disqus website so I encourage you to take a look if you’re interested, or take a look at the comment area of one of my posts here to see the framework in action.

Update: Apologies for closing comments on this post; it’s just been getting too much spam.