What is The Best Comment System For A Blog?

The best commenting system for a blog is the one that makes it easy for your readers to comment.

How do you like that, in less than a minute I answered one of the most popular blogging questions floating around the blogosphere. Give me five more minutes and I will fill your heads with more answers and all sorts of practical information.

If you aren’t running a self hosted blog your choices are pretty limited. Blogger and WordPress.com both have native systems that you can use. Unless something has changed the WP native system is your only choice on that platform.

There are other options you can use with Blogger such as Intense Debate and DISQUS.

Self hosted blogs have many more options such as CommentLuv (affiliate link), DISQUS, Livefyre and the native system on WordPress.org which is different from the dotcom version.

Choices/Differences/Distinctions

I thought it might be useful to share some videos and content that will help illustrate some of features and services of each system.

DISQUS

Livefyre

 

CommentLuv

At the moment I am using CommentLuv here because in the past it has been very effective for me. It doesn’t require a login or any sort of sign up for people to use it and that is always a plus. With the added incentive of providing commenters with a link to one of their posts it offers quite a bit.

However it doesn’t offer the same community function as DISQUS and Livefyre. Nor does it provide real time commenting.

Why Do I Care About Real Time Commenting?

I care about real time commenting because it is a very effective tool for building community and that is what I want for this blog. Community makes a significant difference both personally and professionally so I have a vested interested in growing one.

The nice thing about blogging is that it is a medium that lends itself to experimentation and change. What you do today doesn’t have to be done tomorrow unless it makes sense to continue. All it takes to change are a couple of clicks of your mouse.

Remember the goal here is to build community and part of that is determining what best serves the needs of your community. We may learn that CommentLuv meets the needs of the community in which case we will just let it ride.

Do you have a preference in commenting systems? Please let us know in the comments. The floor is yours.

 

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By Joshua Wilner

Hi, I am Josh Wilner and I am happy that you have decided to visit my corner of cyberspace. I am a writer/marketer/friend and family man. My professional background includes more than twenty years in working with businesses to help them do a better job of connecting with their existing and prospective customers. More specifically I have worked with companies of all sizes from the Fortune 500 to the new start up to help them build, develop and grow their social media and marketing plans. I love spending time with my family and friends. I enjoy music, reading, writing, playing sports and laughing.

2 comments

  1. lori – Canada – I love figuring it all out and finding I was wrong, changing my mind, learning that I can get excited again about something I thought I was moving away from; changing life-long habits. Mostly I love my husband and my children; watching us all grow through the changes of life, family reunions and celebrations with a good bottle of port and a shrimp ring.
    Lori Gosselin says:

    Hi Josh!
    I’m a die-hard Livefyre fan! I was fortunate that my web guy knew about them when he set up my blog nearly two years ago. I can’t imagine having to refresh the page to see who else commented. This really is LIVE and as you say, you need that to build a community!
    They are working on improving it all the time, too, making it easier for people to come in and set up a profile. I’m grateful that somebody thought of this! What would blogging be without a live exchange of ideas? I don’t want to know!
    Lori

    Reply
    1. TheJackB – Someone complained that this page doesn’t tell you what to expect to find here in this blog so I aim to rectify this with the next line. I am a father who writes about life, parenting, business, politics and fiction. I don’t use an editorial calendar because I don’t map out what I am going to write that far in advance. The primary focus will be on things that relate to children and parenting. But the nifty thing about that is that encompasses a wide range of things. Sometimes I work with companies on their PR/Marketing efforts. If they provide products or services I will disclose it. Here is an incomplete list of companies that I am currently or have recently worked with: Nintendo, Philips Norelco, Subway, Frigidaire and Mattel. Want to know more about me, keep reading. If I wanted to provide a professional description it would looks similar to this: Jack has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from California State University Northridge. He has been writing for print and web publications for more than twenty years, covering a wide range of topics including: business, technology, parenting, politics, education, sports and religion. That is far too serious so I prefer to use something like: The Jack B. is a writer and author of 39 unpublished books and three screenplays. A former athlete and would be superhero he still fights for truth, justice and the American Way. Though he may look like a grown man, don’t fool yourself he is still a boy at heart. When he is not engaged in Walter Mitty like fantasies he is a husband, father and friend and blogs at TheJackB. Hmm…obviously I have since moved from Random Thoughts over to this place, but that is ok. This page is a work in progress which is a good description for me. I’ll probably tweak this on a regular basis so feel free to keep checking back in because you never know what might show up. I am a prolific writer and update frequently so don’t forget to scroll down the page to see what nugget of wisdom you just might have missed. Here is a short selection of posts to get you started. A Father Describes Parenting A Father’s Burden How Sister’s Helped to Train A Father of “Daddy’s Girl” Inside the Blogger’s Studio- A Dream, Er Nightmare The GermoPhobe What I Dream About I am In Love Becoming a Dad Dad’s Most Important Job A Decade of Dad Grandpa Donuts Why Your Post Sucks and Everyone Hates Your Blog A Letter To My Children- Things That Matter A Letter To My Children-2011 Dad Balances Fear Versus Reality Q&A With Daddy Blogger JackB Save The Last Dance For Me- 75 Years of Marriage An Uncertain Certainty Four Generations & A Wedding The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer The Story Of A House- The Final Days He Died A Hero Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger Thanks for coming by, I hope you like it. If you want to reach me use the contact form or try talk-to-jacknow-at-gmail-dotcom You can also find more information by clicking About Me and reading my profile there. Also, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter using the form on the top right hand side of the page.
      Josh says:

      Hi Lori,

      I think Livefyre is really solid and overall I have been impressed. I go back and forth about whether it is more useful in the early stages of building a blog than some of the other systems, such as CommentLuv.

      DISQUS appears to have done an outstanding job on their newest iteration of their system too.

      The nice thing about all this stuff is that it is really easy to make changes so what we see today isn’t necessarily what we will see a bit later one.

      Reply

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