Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

ryansouthgate.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 408 posts

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#71

Post by tcfhgj »

mrweasel wrote: post #63

Other than the volume, one of the issues I have with these types of ads is that you're rarely able to report them as scams. Reddit have a similar issue. You can report an ad, but you have to pick "Other", there's no: "This ad is clearly a scam". That's by design obviously, because by removing the scams, most of the ad networks are left with very little inventory. Certainly not enough to fund all the ad supported serv…

almost every ad is a scam, telling lies directly or indirectly maximizing what is within the legal bounds.

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#74

Post by dspillett »

huijzer wrote: post #30

I just can't be bothered to have comments on my site. It adds nothing but headaches. Cross-posting articles to HN or Reddit for comments is a much nicer way, I think.

I like https://github.com/tessalt/echo-chamber-js - it is basically a global shadow-ban for everyone who comments…

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#75

Post by krapp »

edent wrote: post #65
krapp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you're famous enough that everything you post gets to the top of Google, no one will read your content unless you post it to a social media platform with a curated audience. Literally no one but bots and AI crawlers. I mean, you have a whole list of crossposting links at the bottom of your own blog posts, including to HN and Mastodon, so you clearly understand. You wouldn't lose anything by limiting comments t…

Looking through my recent comments, the majority are from people filling in the box on my posts. So, yes, I would lose a lot if I switched them off. You'll also notice that I use WebMentions to import those 3rd party discussions (or links to them) into my blog. That way users aren't subject to the advertising on platform A, the poor moderation on platform B, or the difficulty of even finding the comments on platform…

I was actually going to suggest importing comments from a Fediverse account like Mastodon as a solution to that problem but I saw you were already doing something along those lines.

I'm trying Mastodon comments on my own blog, that I'm not posting here because it isn't really ready, from my own Mastodon account. I'd never even consider public comments anymore, it just seems like inviting trouble.

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#76

Post by deafpolygon »

I won't have anything to do with ads, on principle- I realize this removes a potential income stream for me, but I don't care.

It is revolting how riddled the default web view is with advertisement and that the only way to browse sanely, you must install an adblocker.

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#77

Post by Cthulhu_ »

notRobot wrote: post #56
chistev wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, it's what modern blogs do. The discussions happen on social media and platforms where they are shared

This has disadvantages though! Often the threads on sites like HN/reddit get "archived" or lose traction and you cannot join the discussion if you don't happen to discover the article in the first few days of it getting published. In blogs people can come along anytime and use comments to add additional information/context/perspectives, point out misunderstandings or outdated information, share updates, pose question…

Counterpoint, blog posts age; information or opinion from 10 years ago may no longer be accurate or reflect the author's held beliefs. Is it still worth discussing it then?

That said, I run old fashioned forums and some older threads get revived there from time to time with new insights. Others get flagged up by copyright holders under DMCA takedown threats or bumped by spambots though.

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#78

Post by chistev »

notRobot wrote: post #56
chistev wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, it's what modern blogs do. The discussions happen on social media and platforms where they are shared

This has disadvantages though! Often the threads on sites like HN/reddit get "archived" or lose traction and you cannot join the discussion if you don't happen to discover the article in the first few days of it getting published. In blogs people can come along anytime and use comments to add additional information/context/perspectives, point out misunderstandings or outdated information, share updates, pose question…

Good point.

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#79

Post by Cthulhu_ »

est wrote: post #6

I ditched Disqus for the exact same reason, too many ads Then I built an alternative using free Cloudflare Worker https://github.com/est/req4cmt It's a simple service that transform comment POST form data to JSON, append to a .jsonl file, then do a `git push` It renders comments by `git fetch` from a .jsonl file from a remote repo, or simply via raw.githubusercontent.com if your repo was hosted by Github. The advanta…

.jsonl files are fine for low volume comment threads I think, but others have already mentioned the use of git for storage. Would sqlite or Cloudflare's own D1 (SQLite compatible, also available in their free plan) work as an alternative?

Re: I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse

#80

Post by a1r »

If you are a small personal site, you can request a free upgrade to the Plus version (which can remove ads) by emailing publisher-success@disqus.com and asking. I did this in late 2023 and got a response in two days. This does remain an absolutely horrific business practice.
Post reply on HN