Kumail.H.T`s Blog

The default comment system has a flaw, it does not encourage a new user to participate quickly and painlessly. Here is a comment system on the loose that is worth a look.

I recently installed the IntenseDebate plugin which enhances the Wordpress comment system and found the features very interesting. IntenseDebate enhances and encourages conversations on your blog and build your reader community.The company behind Wordpress Automattic had bought Intense debate a while ago and it is very likely that will be integrated with Wordpress once it has reached its expectations. You can test the plugin below in the comments section, NO login required.

When a new user reaches a random blog and has a quick look at a bunch of comments and has to make a quick decision whether he wants to read further. Most users including me have a lot of blogs to read in their news reader which might be more interesting so chances are he will skip the comments to read the next post.

What I have noticed with the intense debate functionality is that it is very similar to the way the digg comments work and I have to say that the comments on digg engage a user in to spending more time on the comments page instead of skipping to the content. The reason this is true is that threaded comments allow discussions and voting allow the user to skip spam and worthless comments. This allows the attention deficit Internet users to quickly skim through the comments without wasting a lot of time.

How can they improve

• Separate trackbacks from comments as most users are not interested in who is linking to the post and if they are, they can have a look at them separately. Keeping them together makes the interface look cluttered.
• Keep it minimal on advertisements and clearly mention that login is not required to comment if it is disabled. Most advanced bloggers like taking full control of how their blog looks and subtle advertisements can scare them away.
• It also displays when the comment was added, for example it might say 1 week ago. I think it would be better if it were displayed besides the name, for example >> Avatar >> Name >> 1 week ago. And linking it to the comment itself is not really needed and just complicates stuff.
• Allow the admin to disable the login function easily. Most blogs don’t require the user to log in and this could drive away potential users as most users scan pages and a login button would just make them think that he might need to sign up.
• Once it is ready for wide adoption they can integrate it into wordpress and improve the default system.

Final Thoughts

IntenseDebate looks very promising and has a bright future ahead. I really liked the comment system and also integrated it with my blog, you can check it out below. Do let me know what you think of it and what features or changed you would add.

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