#comments system

Appearance

You can base your choice on how these commenting systems look like. For instance, both Livefyre and IntenseDebate make it clear from the get-go that even guests can comment if they want to whereas, with Disqus, you will have to click on 2 textboxes before you can see the checkbox that will allow you to comment anonymously.

Reviews

Searching around will reveal multiple reviews for these commenting systems. Some will be in favor of one service while others will only have negative things to say about a particular plugin so it’s up to you to decide which of these reviews you will believe in.

What works on Tumblr?

This is the most important question of all. Even if you like how a particular comments system looks or even if you find yourself drawn to a particular service, it wouldn’t matter in the least if you can’t get it to work on your Tumblr blog. For instance, I initially wanted to install IntenseDebate on my blog since I liked the way that it looked. Unfortunately, the codes for the aforementioned plugin refused to work no matter what I did. This led me right back to Disqus.

Choose Disqus for Tumblr

If your chosen Tumblr theme already includes the Disqus codes, then do yourself a favor and just go with this commenting system. It will save you so much time, hassle and trouble. For instance, Tumblr themes like Rustelia, Weiss Zima and Mystic Summer already have the Disqus codes so all you have to do is create an account on the Disqus site then get the shortname, which you can then add to your Tumblr blog.

Regardless of that, I thought I’d go with IntenseDebate anyway and I wish I hadn’t because I spent so much time trying to get it to work and reading everything about it only to end up with nothing at all for all my efforts. 

But, when I tried Disqus, I didn’t have any problems at all. It worked perfectly fine on my blog and only took me a few minutes to configure and install. So, if you’re looking for quick, easy and hassle-free, then just go with Disqus for Tumblr. There’s no need to give yourself a hard time or try to stress yourself out.

If your guidelines are a bit too long or if you prefer, you can put them in another page and then just include a link before your comments section telling your visitors where they can find and read these rules and policies.

How to add comment guidelines to your blog if you’re using Disqus?

If you’re using the Disqus commenting system, then how can you add your comment guidelines right before the comments section of your blog? First, go to the HTML and CSS codes section of your theme. Then, look for:

<div id=“disqus_thread”></div>

You can add your guidelines above that piece of code. It can look something like this:

<h2>Comment guidelines:</h2>   <p>Before commenting, take a look at the guidelines, which can be found <a href="http://your-tumblr-blog.tumblr.com/sample-url">here.</a></p>

These lines will appear right before your comments section so people can read the rules first before using the Disqus system to type and submit their message or question. To set the color and font for the text, you can add style="font-size:12px; font-family:Arial; color:black;" right after h2 and p. You can choose any size, family and color that you want.

To see an example, take a look at the comments section on this blog. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :-).

Disqus has its flaws like how you can’t delete discussions on your account or that stuff about their Terms of Service. But there are a number of things to like about this third-party commenting system. 

For starters, it actually works (or, at least, it works on Tumblr, which is more than can be said about IntenseDebate. Update: It also works on Google Blogger). For another, their customer support appears to be superb.

Disqus = awesome customer service?

Actually, I haven’t tried contacting them yet since I’m not currently experiencing any issues with their comments system but, based on a few things, it really seems like the site cares about its users. 

Why? If you check out their website and their help and support pages, you can see their contact us link plastered pretty much everywhere. They invite you to feel free to contact them if you need help, which is fantastic, to say the least.

Receiving email from Disqus

I also received an email from them. It’s probably just a form email with my username tacked at the top but I still like it anyway because it shows that the site cares enough to send emails to their new users. Here are some words from the email:

“I help out publishers.”  

“We all look forward to hearing from you :).”

“Customer Happiness”

“p.s. if you need any additional assistance, drop us a line using our contact form :)”

Yes, the smileys were included in the message and the “contact form” contained a link to their contact us page. This email really shows that Disqus is ready to help you in case you need it and that they actually care about the happiness of their customers.

Importance of great customer service

It’s good to know that you can rely on Disqus support in case you need it. It’s good to feel welcome and know that you can contact the site’s customer service anytime you need help. 

There should be more companies / sites / services like Disqus who appear to realize the importance of people / their customers (because if your customers leave you or start boycotting you, then you’ll lose it all, won’t you?).

Cannot delete discussions on Disqus

After installing or adding the appropriate codes on your site, you can manage the settings for that particular blog on your Disqus dashboard. You can set its appearance, moderate comments, change the settings, etc. All the comments in a single post on your site are referred to as discussions on Disqus.

You can see a list of these discussions on your dashboard. However, the problem is that you can’t delete these discussions even if you want to. For instance, if you just created a discussion to test if Disqus is working on your blog, then, of course, you won’t need it anymore after ensuring that said commenting system is working.

The worst part is, even if you delete the post in question on your site, the discussion will still be visible on your Disqus dashboard. Actually, what’s even worse may be the fact that, even if you just open an article on your site and even if there’s currently no comment on said article, a discussion will still show up on Disqus.

Disqus = cannot organize discussions

Things would have been so much better if the aforementioned platform had just provided a delete discussions button for its users. What’s wrong with adding a simple delete button and allowing people to delete unwanted, unneeded and unnecessary discussions?

If your blog is still new and doesn’t have many articles yet, then this might not matter much. But what if you have a lot of articles on your site already? If you can’t delete the discussions that you don’t want or need, then your Disqus dashboard will quickly become cluttered and disorganized.

The workaround is a hassle

I looked around the site and there were also some who wanted to know how discussions could be deleted on Disqus. Unfortunately, there really is no delete button. However, there is a workaround. The site provides this mapping tool URL thing. They have instructions on how to use it too but it’s way too much work so I didn’t even bother trying to figure it out. It’s such a hassle. Who has time for that?

What I did to fix the problem?

So, what I did was simply create a sample Disqus shortname. This was what I initially added to my blog so I could do all the testing and checking that I needed. In this way, even if many discussions will end up getting created, it won’t matter since I’ll be using a different shortname after all the testing is done.

(function () { var opst = document.createElement('script'); var os_host = document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "https:" : "http:"; opst.type = 'text/javascript'; opst.async = true; opst.src = os_host + '//' + 'www.opinionstage.com/polls/2238387/embed.js'; (document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0] || document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(opst); }());

Does Disqus work on Tumblr?

The answer to that is a definite yes. In fact, many Tumblr themes (like Rustelia, Weiss Zima and Mystic Summer)  come with the Disqus codes already built-in to the template so all you need to do is type your Disqus shortname in the provided textbox on your Tumblr settings page. Even if that’s not the case for your chosen theme, you can still add this comment system to your blog by following the instructions on the site’s help pages.

Disqus = easy to install on Tumblr

To install Disqus on Tumblr, you will have to create an account on the aforementioned commenting site. But it’s easy to do this. All you need is a name, email and password. You’ll also need to provide a shortname for your blog. 

Since Disqus is so easy to install on Tumblr, you don’t have to feel stressed or frustrated. You can just add the comments system to your site and then move on to the next thing you want to do.

Disqus = helpful?

When I first joined Disqus, I got a few emails from them. Some of the contents of the messages says something along the lines of “we want to help in case you need it”. 

You can also see their contact us link plastered pretty much everywhere on their site, inviting you to contact them in case you have questions or need some help. They even say that, “We welcome all questions, feedback and bug reports”.

They even have a community question and ask portion where members can ask for help. Fellow members can respond to the questions but, sometimes, you can also see the Disqus staff replying. 

IntenseDebate = perfect choice for Tumblr?

The aforementioned system would have been a perfectly fine choice for Tumblr especially if you really want to make it clear that guests can comment on your articles even without logging in or signing up.

IntenseDebate = doesn’t work on Tumblr?

But that’s only if it actually works on your blog. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I tried installing IntenseDebate on my Tumblr blog and it didn’t work. The comments section didn’t even show up so I never even got to test it or see how it looked on my blog.

So, what now? If you experience something like this, what should you do? Should you keep trying to make it work or look for another commenting system? I chose the latter and here’s why:

Lack of time

I already spent a lot of time reading up on IntenseDebate’s terms of service and privacy policy as well as other pages like its FAQ and help sections. I simply didn’t have the time to bother trying to work out how to make this system work on my blog especially if there’s no guarantee that it will eventually work. Who knows how long this will take? You’re better off trying another system that might actually work on your blog.

Stressful and frustrating

I tried several times to get IntenseDebate to work on my Tumblr blog. I used both the Basic and Advanced Installations, installed and reinstalled the codes, and followed all the instructions on the site’s FAQ and help pages. But nothing worked. The comments system simply refused to show up.

This was stressful and frustrating, to say the least. If you don’t want to deal with all this, then you’re better off trying another system. After all, IntenseDebate isn’t the only commenting system for Tumblr. You have other options like Disqus and Livefyre.

IntenseDebate = no customer support?

I thought about contacting the IntenseDebate customer service but it doesn’t seem like they’ll be interested in helping you considering what is plastered at the very top of their contact us page.

They even tell you this, “Currently we are not able to respond to other support requests.” Yeah, well, currently I don’t have time to deal with this mess so I think I’ll just go and check out Disqus now.

Who wants to wait?

You can try to figure out what’s wrong and why IntenseDebate refuses to work on your Tumblr blog. You can even try contacting them and maybe they will respond. But how long will these things take?

If you want to be able to fix up your blog as soon as possible, then it’s best to just move on and find and try other options. Like I said, I like the appearance of this commenting system but if it doesn’t work, then, what else can you do but just let it go?

Reading everything about IntenseDebate

Before joining or creating an account on IntenseDebate, I read everything about it first including its terms of service, privacy policy, frequently asked questions, and help section. It was only after I read everything that I registered on the site. I still chose to sign up even after reading a part of its TOS that seemed rather iffy or off because I really did like the way that it looked.

IntenseDebate = doesn’t work on Tumblr

After joining IntenseDebate, I immediately attempted to install the commenting system on my Tumblr blog by following the instructions provided by the site. However, it didn’t work and how I wished I knew that before I went through all the trouble of reading everything about it, researching and just trying to find info about this site.

Tried everything and nothing works?

I tried both the Basic and Advanced Installation that the site offered and I followed all their instructions to the letter. I even referred to their help section, particularly the part that talked about installing IntenseDebate on Tumblr. I also tried to install the comment system twice. But nothing worked. The comments section refused to show up on my blog and I’ve no idea why not or what the problem could be.

Outdated instructions?

It does seem like the info listed on their FAQ or help pages was already outdated though. At the bottom of the page, you can see this line: “Last modified: February 22, 2011”. The screenshot images on that page also illustrates how old the instructions are because the dashboard on Tumblr looks quite different now and IntenseDebate still hasn’t updated their FAQ page to reflect that.

Goodbye IntenseDebate?

Is this goodbye then? I honestly liked the way this comment system looked but that means absolutely nothing at all if I can’t install it on my blog. I don’t have time to figure this out. And it doesn’t look like the site’s customer service or contact us page will be all that helpful. Who knows?