One of the main reasons that I implemented Disqus was because of their robust anti-spam features. The other reason was because of their strong social media support. Over the years, Disqus evolved to be their own social media network, and the social media tools I loved (like being able to easily post a comment AND have it simultaneously post to Facebook & Twitter) were removed. Another reason that I switched was because Blogger's comment system seemed to give people trouble.
Well, comments are way down, and people send me comments on Twitter, Facebook, email, and privately instead of posting here. They all begin their messages the same way. "I tried to leave a comment on your blog, but couldn't." Not even my oldest daughter is able to leave comments, and posting on my blog is one way that she feels connected to home while she attends school in Germany. After I received only two comments during my "Writing in a Fishbowl" series, I've begun to think that Disqus isn't a good fit for my blog anymore. Maybe it's time to reinstate the Blogger comment system. It's linked in now with YouTube and G+ accounts, and still supports alternate logins from other networks. I'll still require logins to cut down on spam. Sorry, guys, but you have no idea how popular my blog is for spammers without all these protections. They absolutely LOVE that I have over 800 posts over eleven years here. They hunt out the older posts, thinking I won't catch them. I'd rather write more content here than spend time pruning spam comments off the blog.
Of course, I could be like a lot of big time blogs. I could just ignore the spam and let you scroll by all those "work out of your home", "have more time to spend with your family", "I've made crazy money with this one simple trick!" posts…
I've started a poll at the top of my blog to get your feedback. I'll run it for a week. I hope that you take time to vote. You can even leave comments here, too—assuming you can get through the Disqus wall. Or tweet me @SplinteredMind or email me (link in the footer). I'd really like to know what you think about the Disqus system. At this point, unless I see a groundswell of support for Disqus, I'm leaning towards removing it. That means losing lots of great comments. I won't make this move lightly. However, if keeping Disqus means losing new comments going forward, then maybe it isn't worth the archive.
Keep in touch!
~Dˢ
