The new comments section now online

Good day all, this is the Angry Systems Administrator. As you know, I posted an update that I was looking into a new comments system to replace Disqus. We have been using Disqus for years, but they’ve started getting very intrusive with their ads. Since this wasn’t making any money for us, and with changes to Disqus’s policies, (censoring anyone who doesn’t toe the Communist line), it was time to make them go away.

I have been looking into various systems including the one built into WordPress. I noted that the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler had done an overhaul of their site a few months back and this included their comments section. I located the system they’re using, wpDiscuz, and installed it over the weekend. So far it seems to be doing just what we need it to do.

I still have a lot of tweaking to do with it of course, as well as learning how it works in full detail. One of the things I noticed is that it allows commenting on a specific section of the post as well as the general comments. [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”xuwlsfj7j7″ question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”0″]I haven’t quite figured out how this works, (And may test it here), but it might prove interesting.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

One of the other things I’m working on is keeping the damn spammers out, along with different authentication processes. I have been able to set up both Google and WordPress credentials, so you can use those if you wish. I’m also working set up a connection to the Disqus’s authentication system. (Yes, I know) If I understand it correctly, it will allow you to log into the comments section using your Disqus credentials. Currently, it’s not working right. It also looks like Twitter has killed their API program. (Perhaps Elon will bring it back)

You might also need to register in order to comment. Again, I’m still working on things so don’t be surprised if you are asked to register and your comments are placed into pending. On the plus side, it looks like all the old comments were pulled in successfully. It’s been a while since I’ve dug into the WordPress comments system, which wpDiscuz uses, and there are a number of settings I’m switching on and off.

I know that this is a lot of work for a site that is, to be honest, generally low traffic and even lower comments. The Spam filter is actually rather good, with 345,087 spammers blocked. I’m also going through the user lists and doing mass deletions. Looking at the login names, I doubt any of them are real. This is probably something we should have done some time ago, but since the garbage they tried to post was blocked, we never bothered.

Well, there you have it. We’ve implemented the new comments section, and I’m working on the back end. You may need to re-register, and your comments may be put on hold for verification. Still, it’s better then the Disqus system and dealing with their ads and spying.

Thank you

~The Angry Systems Administrator~