Disqus is a comment system for websites & blogs. If you’re using WordPress, it’s a simple as installing a plug-in. I’ve been using Disqus since we moved the blog back from WordPress.com. I prefer it over the default system (and akismet) because it makes it easier for our readers to comment and easier for us to moderate – pretty important features for a commenting system.
Installation
If you’re running WordPress, Disqus is pretty easy to install. Signup for account on their website and they walk you through the steps to install & configure.
Moderation
Moderating can be done from multiple locations & methods. You can moderate through email by responding to emails sent to you by Disqus (approve, spam, delete), including adding a reply right in the body of your email which will show up on your site. Through your WordPress administration, there’s also a panel under Settings which gives you access to the configuration and to moderation (it really loads the disqus website in a pane). You can also moderate through the Disqus website.
You can setup Disqus to work within your comfort zone – whether you have to pre-approve every comment, whether you allow links in comments, what words are restricted and who else can help you moderate. And for trolls or spammers who get through the system, you can add them to a Blacklist.
Blocking Spam
I’ve had very few problems with spam getting through. All of the posts that did get through were done manually by a person and were of the “great post” nature – people posting a comment just to be able to add a link to their website.
Customization
How Disqus looks on your website can be customized both in layout and appearance. They provide a few themes which you can edit to look the way you want through options or through custom CSS. Comments can either be threaded (so that replies stay together) or just by time (so that all comments are ordered by time, regardless of whether they’re replies). For sites with a lot of commenting, Disqus also supports pagination of the comments, which is extremely important for keeping them (and the site) readable.
Integration
One feature I really like is how Disqus integrates with other social networks and services. Readers can login to leave a comment via Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, or Yahoo. When they leave a comment, they can also share it on Twitter or Facebook. Disqus also tracks reactions to your posts on Twitter and adds them to your post (as reactions).
Extras
Disqus also provides a few widgets to display comments on your blog on other websites or in the sidebar. Widgets include recent comments, popular threads, top commenters or a combination of all three. Widgets can be customized to show as many comments as you want, as well as some general appearance changes like size and color.
Identity
For anyone who logins to leave a comment, you’ll be able to see their name, email, and website (optional) along with how many other comments they’ve left on any blogs using Disqus (and you can read what those comments are), and how many people liked those comments.
For Readers
From the reader’s point of view, Disqus make it easy to login to leave a comment (Disqus, Facebook, Twitter, OpenID, and Yahoo as login options) and easy to see if anyone replies to the comment (by subscribing to see all comments). Comments can be shared on Twitter & Facebook and other comments can be rated with “likes”. Disqus provides a dashboard (called Disqus Profile) so that you can see all your comments across any site using Disqus so you don’t have to login to multiple websites to see who has responded to you.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a step up from the default WordPress commenting system, I highly recommend Disqus. It has great functionality for both you and your readers. Disqus has also announced a Disqus VIP version, so if you have plans of becoming the next best thing, Disqus should be able to grow with you.
What do you think? Do you use Disqus on your blog? Do you like Disqus as a commenting system?
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