Most of you probably don't care which blog comment system we use on Offbeat Bride. But for the few of you who do, I wanted to let you know that it's with a heavy heart that I'm disabling the system we've been using for the past few months. If you care about this sort of thing, keep reading…
I loved IntenseDebate because it offered all sorts of souped up features — y'all could comment using your Facebook or Twitter accounts. You could edit your comments. You could report offensive/spammy comments and they'd automatically be deleted. There were many aspects of IntenseDebate that were incredibly cool.
Unfortunately, IntenseDebate is just WAY too buggy. When you edit a comment, any linked URLs get broken. IDC wreaks havoc on my SEO. Sometimes you'll go to leave a comment, and half a random old comment you left will be waiting for you in the reply box. The moderation tools are cool in concept (ooh, you can delete comments via email!) but painful in execution (it takes forever for an email-deleted comment to actually be deleted). Tons of spammy comments get through their spam filters, and when I tried to do a bulk delete of the spam, my server almost crashed from the strain. I've spent hours emailing with the support folks at IntenseDebate trying to deal with all the bugs I've encountered — their typical response is "This is on our bug list and we hope to have it corrected. I don't have an ETA right now, but we will get that fixed soon. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thanks for your patience."
After over six months of waiting, I finally ran out of patience.
I HATE changing commenting systems. I feel like I asked y'all to invest your time and trust into a platform that ultimately didn't earn it or deserve it. I know, I know: 99% of you never even noticed. But I'm a perfectionist about these things. Anyway, enough's enough: it's time to flip the switch on IntenseDebate. In fact, the sites that inspired me to first try it have all bailed on it as well, so I guess Offbeat Bride is in good company…
I mentioned a few weeks ago that Offbeat Bride is being redesigned — the new design should be launching this weekend. I was going to try to wait to disable IDC until the new design launched, but I just couldn't deal with it any more. Once the new design is up, you'll see the return of some of the commenting features — Facebook connect, for example. Reporting offensive/spammy comments. Stuff like that. But IntenseDebate will not be back.
On a happier note, I'm SO excited about the new design. I can't even tell you. To reward my fellow web dorks who actually read this whole post, I give you this tiny little screenshot of the magic that's coming. Oh lord it's awesome.
About Ariel Meadow Stallings
Author of Offbeat Bride: Creative Alternatives for Independent Brides, Ariel acts as the publisher of all the Offbeat Empire websites. She lives, loves, and dorks out hard in Seattle, WA.
Meg said
We found a plug in that will allow users to flag comments… sans intense debate. Just to throw that out there.
I'm pleased that I'll be able to leave comments without Intense Debate telling me I'm being too long winded (geeze) and then making me split up my comment and then eating it. Grrr.
So yay.
Celeste said
I noticed IntenseDebate had disappeared from the site a little earlier and I wondered about it. I can see why you've made this decision; one time I commented here and when I checked back, literally half my comment was gone. I was thinking that it had been edited for some reason, and I couldn't figure out why (because there wasn't anything offensive or spammy about it), but now I'm thinking maybe it was some weird IDC bug. Possibly?
Anyway, the screenshot looks pretty rad! Is that a featured post slideshow at the top? And, ooh, a double menu.. what can it all mean? Can't wait to see it =D
Ariel said
Ooh Celeste, you're gooood. That is indeed a featured post slideshow AND a double menu.
Edwin said
What will you be using in the future? It looks like you currently have the regular WordPress one. My blog is using IDC at the moment and I really dig it, but I get no where near the amount of traffic you do. I experimented with Discus before, but I didn't like it as much as IDC. I'm in wait and see mode.
Ariel said
Edwin, we'll just be using WP's built-in comments, with some plugins to make 'em superpowered in the ways we want.
If IDC worked, it'd be the awesome uber plugin (because I am going to have to install several plugins to do things that it took care of) … but the bugginess was just intolerable at a certain point. And surprising, since Automattic (a company I respect!) acquired them.
I've looked at Disqus, but IDC has me gun-shy, and I've heard Disqus isn't great for SEO.
kayla carnage said
I READ IT ALL!! And I am bummed about IND because…well, I signed up for it BECAUSE of OBB! So that sucks. I liked it. But if it's not to be, we all understand!
And *squeeeee* for the new design!! Can't wait. Screencap is like giving me ONE CHIP. Ariel…no one can have just one chip. NO ONE.
kayla carnage said
Oh and P.S. I had the buggy issues too, which is partially why I was bummed. I was VERY confuzzled about why my past comments were always chilling in the text box. Very annoying.
Sebastyne said
I used to have Intense Debate on my blog as well, but I don't remember why I disabled it… Something didn't work the way I wanted. Now I use DisqUs Comments, which work nicely enough for me.
Aurora said
I did like the way the IDC was set up, but I never realized other people were having problems. I read OBB and OBM like a dog wags his tail, but I don't comment terribly often… so I'm sure that's why I didn't notice it. I'm very excited about the new layout – it looks hawt! The great thing about OBB is that the layout changes are cool and actually helpful (unlike some other websites who shall remain nameless but whose initials are FACEBOOK). Erm. Anyways, yay for improvement!
channamasala said
Lovin' the screenshot.
Count me as one of the people who never even noticed that you had (or had problems with) Intense Debate.
Evita said
I too have experienced weirdness with IDC, but I did enjoy being able to track comments on certain posts.
I'm loving the new layout even though that thumbnail is a mega tease.:) It looks much more robust. Bravo!!
Jessica_Iowa said
I did notice that IDC was missing.
I am almost excited about the change.
cicatricella said
cool beans dude! I wasn't a big fan of the IDC comments anyway – cool concept, but trying to do too many things at once! <3 the new design, it looks great! – can't wait for new OBB!
CJ said
We switched to Disqus a while back and like it ..
Celeste said
Yay! =) We also use a featured post slideshow and it seems to work well for us. We don't feature all our posts, but probably most of them. We're hoping to do a redesign soon too though. Always trying to improve!
I haven't used IDC or Disqus as a blog owner but I have noticed other blogs having a few problems with Disqus also. One high-traffic blog I follow which uses Disqus had one post suddenly just not have the comments feeding in at all.. just on the one post, even after it had gotten comments previously. Bizarre.
I think they're all a little buggy, but some more than others and with varying degrees of developer support. I'm hoping when we redesign to be able to just tweak the built-in WP comments enough to not have to use a plugin at all (currently we just have the boring, built-in non-threaded comment system) but it is attractive to be able to edit your comments, etc.
Ariel said
Evita: you can track comments again!
Celeste: yeah, I think I just no longer trust having my comments managed by an external system. Now that WP does threaded comments, I think using the native WP commenting + some solid plugins should work just fine.
Liset said
yay!
often after I left a comment
It would not allow me to look at a whole article.
I'm not sure why…
but it was very "ERGUUUUGAAA!" making.
and the new design! yay!
Evita said
Wait, was that something so obviously there before that I missed it, or did you wave your wand?
Princess Lasertron said
I love the new design…sooo eagerly anticipating it!
Ariel said
Evita:
DootsieBug said
I thought I was onto something for the website I work for–we need a commenting system that allows some sort of social media integration. I'm so glad that you changed this JUST BEFORE I proposed the Intense Debate system! Now I know.
Ariel said
Yeah, that was a big part of why I felt the need to switch — a site as big as OBB gives implicit recommendation to the tools it uses. And I just couldn't stand implicitly promoting IDC any more. It's just not a good tool.
Edwin said
Once you're new comments are up and running, I'd love to see a list of plug-ins you use to replace IDC. I run a pretty big blog for someone (not the one I link here) and it's just something I need.
Dana said
fellow webdork…i read it all…congrats on getting through making a tough decision. looking forward to seeing the new design! almost like another birth….