BlogTelling

I have been wanting to add threaded comments to the blog so that is possible to reply to a specific comment rather than the whole chain of comments. In the past I had used the Brian’s Threaded Comment’s Plugin. There have been some changed to Wordpress with 2.7 and 2.8 and Brian’s plugin has some been updated since 2008. I started to search for another solution but I couldn’t find a plugin that didn’t require me to make changes to the template.

A friend suggested Disqus as a solution. Disqus is a service outside of Wordpress that allows people to create a profile which can be used whenever they leave comments on a blog that has Disqus – you don’t have to have a Disqus plugin to leave a comment on a blog with Disqus.

How to add Disqus to Your Blog

Disqus is super easy to set up. Just create a profile at Disqus.com and add the Disqus plugin to your blog. You can use the Install Plugins page to add the Disqus Comment System plugin.

*As of 10/2/09 Wordpress is saying that the Discus Plugin 2.11.4349 is only compatible with Wordpress 2.7 – I have installed it on Wordpress 2.8 with out any problems.

Screen shot of Install Plugin Page

1. Create an account at Disqus
2. Install the Discuss Comment System Plugin
3. Activate the plugin
4. Set up the plug under Settings -> Disqus
5. On the Disqus Settings page – click “Advanced Settings” and you can import your existing comments into your Disqus account (This may take a little bit to complete)

Before Disqus

Here is what my comments section looked like before I added Disqus:

Comments before adding Disqus

Here is what the comments section looks like after Disqus has been added:

Comments after adding Disqus

Here are some of the advantages to Disqus:

• Threaded Comments
• Commenters can login with Facebook or Twitter Accounts as well as others like Open ID, Yahoo and more
• Widget for displaying most popular posts and latest comments on the sidebar – offers more options than default recent comments widget. (To get widget code – login to Discuss and click on Tools)
• Comment Moderation by Email – Discus sends you an email when someone leaves a comment. You can post a reply to the comment or delete the comment by replying to the email.
• Disqus can also keep track of Trackbacks and Tweetbacks

A better solution for Twitter/Facebook Integration

A few months ago I blogged about using the plugin TwitTip ID to add the ability for people to leave their Twitter name with their comment. While I like the idea of TwitTip Id – it was not at all easy to set up with existing themes.
More Comment Plugins Wpazo has a link to the blog post from First Web Designer 33 Wordpress Plugins to Power Up Your Comments Section - Disqus is number 1 on the list but there are some other plugins that look promising too. What plugin comments have you found most helpful.

Some additional blog posts about comments and Disqus…

• Disqus Forks Into Two Products, Launches Revamped Real-Time Comment System (techcrunch.com)
• Disqus V3 Launches: Publishers and Commenters Get Their Own Services (mashable.com)
• Using Disqus for Blog Comments (onemanandhisblog.com)
• Disqus updates blog comments plugin, user tools (downloadsquad.com)
• Why Comments Matter (avc.com)
• Disqus – Why 95% Of Bloggers Should Switch (andybeard.eu)