I used to have Disqus on my blog but the overhead wasn't worth it. The vanishingly rare times someone has reached out to me it's been via Twitter.
Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
21–30 of 52 posts
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#22I'm more of the opinion that if you're sharing something, especially in a blog, then you should never add a comment section. People don't comment unless they have a point that they want to put across, which in 99% of the cases will be something negative. Just look at HN and (ugh) Twitter -- almost every discussion revolves around people trying to find things to complain about. I instead share a contact e-mail. This w…
I don't know which blog you've read, but that hasn't been my experience on the websites with comment sections I'm following (acoup.blog, shamusyoung.com), Twitter and HN aren't representative of the whole internet (hell, even on Twitter I can think of many example of people sharing something and receiving positive response). And even if it's negative, it doesn't mean it worthless to have.
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#23I'm more of the opinion that if you're sharing something, especially in a blog, then you should never add a comment section. People don't comment unless they have a point that they want to put across, which in 99% of the cases will be something negative. Just look at HN and (ugh) Twitter -- almost every discussion revolves around people trying to find things to complain about. I instead share a contact e-mail. This w…
I disagree that HN is quite so negative: I see a lot of discussions where people are productively expanding a discussion on a post.
Even when it's critical though, I still see that as highly useful if it is not done from a merely dogmatic viewpoint. Picking apart an idea or argument is very useful in understanding it. This should be done especially if a person disagrees with it because absent dissection it is virtually impossible to pinpoint not just why and what you disagree with, but also whether or not that flaw can be rectified.
I've come into conversations at times where I disagreed (or agreed) with something only to see a key component elaborated or additional evidence provided, changing my mind.
So, I see a community in HN that ruthlessly dissects ideas. Most things aren't perfect so there will always be some degree of "that's wrong". I don't think that makes HN inherently negative. Though yes, I do occasionally see comments that seem to go out of their way to find flaws peripheral to the topic at hand and inflate them, derailing more productive conversation.
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#24I'm more of the opinion that if you're sharing something, especially in a blog, then you should never add a comment section. People don't comment unless they have a point that they want to put across, which in 99% of the cases will be something negative. Just look at HN and (ugh) Twitter -- almost every discussion revolves around people trying to find things to complain about. I instead share a contact e-mail. This w…
>Just look at HN
Well no offense but what are you doing here if you think that the comments are so bad? I quite disagree, hn comment threads are generally quite good quality and civil, and you will find knowledgeable people chiming in.
>almost every discussion revolves around people trying to find things to complain about
Quite meta x))
Also: here is a blog which definitely wouldn't be the same without comments https://terrytao.wordpress.com/
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#25I'm more of the opinion that if you're sharing something, especially in a blog, then you should never add a comment section. People don't comment unless they have a point that they want to put across, which in 99% of the cases will be something negative. Just look at HN and (ugh) Twitter -- almost every discussion revolves around people trying to find things to complain about. I instead share a contact e-mail. This w…
I don't know which blog you've read, but that hasn't been my experience on the websites with comment sections I'm following (acoup.blog, shamusyoung.com), Twitter and HN aren't representative of the whole internet (hell, even on Twitter I can think of many example of people sharing something and receiving positive response). And even if it's negative, it doesn't mean it worthless to have.
Also on HN, even if something is negative it is usually both civil and supported with some degree of reasoning. I can't say that about many other communities where any a lot of disagreement comes with flames and toxicity.
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#26I'm more of the opinion that if you're sharing something, especially in a blog, then you should never add a comment section. People don't comment unless they have a point that they want to put across, which in 99% of the cases will be something negative. Just look at HN and (ugh) Twitter -- almost every discussion revolves around people trying to find things to complain about. I instead share a contact e-mail. This w…
I also am quite strongly against comment fields. The comment field medium isn't particularly conducive to meaningful and interesting conversations, which is ultimately what I want to promote if I put something on the Internet. At best you get posturing. Emails (or blog posts) require more thought to be put into what's written, and they also even the playing field. It feels a lot more like a conversation compared to t…
Yes, as a reader (and probably if I blogged) I'd rather a well-implemented backlink system (webmention?) - if someone has something meaningful to say well, or a thought out critique that's more than just a 'well actually', they can write their own post refuting (or extending or whatever) the original.
If they can't be bothered (or don't blog) then fine, but there's a more limited upside to that comment and we can probably do without it. Especially since the SNR is often so low with spam, referrals, mutually beneficial (supposedly) SEO requests, etc.
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#27> Hacker News. Similar to Reddit, but aimed towards a more technical audience. However, you don't get a dedicated space for your links.
https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=darekkay.com
(I was going to say 'you do sort of', excepting that you can't stop others' submissions going there - but then I realised that's even more 'control' than Reddit gives you, since it's inherently only your site; if others submitted it it's still your content.)
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#28I discovered https://utteranc.es just yesterday. Nice UX, but it's built atop (and requires / supports authN only through) GitHub.
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#29If you're in the UK you may wish to not add comments until after you have read the draft of the UK Online Safety Bill.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-online-safe...
The short of it: You are obliged to support processes to keep people safe, protect vulnerable users, provide complaint processes... and failure to take any of this seriously can have serious financial and legal penalties.
The current draft does not differentiate between a hobby static website with comments about Raspberry Pis, and harmful content via Facebook... the penalties are equal if this is a hobby effort or if you're Facebook.
It's not a great piece of law even in draft form.
PS: @dang this might apply to HN as the definition of a site with links to the UK is merely "a significant number of UK users" without clarity on what defines significant.
Re: Various ways to include comments on a static site (2018)
#30If you're in the UK you may wish to not add comments until after you have read the draft of the UK Online Safety Bill. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/draft-online-safe... The short of it: You are obliged to support processes to keep people safe, protect vulnerable users, provide complaint processes... and failure to take any of this seriously can have serious financial and legal penalties. The current dra…
Good luck prosecuting me with my US hosted site Britoids.