Comment System Help

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

Well I think we've found the right system for the site. It's using Disqus which is used on some 1.8 million other web sites. Steve has managed to get the font size sorted and it all looks good. It's got the ability for users to login with their Facebook, Twitter, Google and Yahoo accounts if you have them and also if you also have a Disqus account. In the event you don't have any of these then you simply create a Disqus account.

You do need to be logged in to leave a comment and at this time any comment you leave will be moderated meaning I'll have to moderate it and approve it before it will be seen. This of course is due to that terrible breed of people known as spammers who can create havoc on any system.

Not only can you add a comment but you can also reply to a comment someone else has left. Other highlights are that you can upload an image and add a link to another web site or blog.

In my case I used my Facebook account and that meant that a wee Facebook icon appeared below the comment box which can be toggled on and off. When this is toggled on, any comment you add will also be sent to your Facebook account.

I am finished testing it but would like feedback on what you think of the system. I mentioned this in this weeks newsletter so hope that some folk will try out the test page and let me know what they think.

The test page is at http://www.electricscotland.com/test.htm

Once I'm happy with things I'll be adding it to the common footer of the site and thus it will go onto every page of the site apart from our Index page.

Mind that the idea of providing this service is so people can comment on any page of the site and hopefully, where appropriate, correct any information should they have particular knowledge or indeed add information.

This has taken a lot of time to get to this point as we've now tried quite a few systems but could never get them to work on the email side of things. We thus resorted to trying the public services and this is so far the only service that provides the key things we were looking for along with ease of moderation.

Alastair

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

Well I have figured out the Disqus system and it works pretty much as expected. See http://www.electricscotland.com/test.htm

I would like to control the fonts better but apart from that it does everything I wanted it to do.

You do need to login to post a comment but if you already have a Facebook, Twitter, Google or Yahoo account you can use them to login. In the case of Disqus they are on some 1.8 million web sites so if you have an account with them already through another site you can use that. In the event you don't have any of these then simply create a user profile under Disqus.

I have it configured at the moment to display up to 50 comments per page after which it moves to pagination. I have also configured it to display the oldest comment first. As you read through the comments the comment box appears at the foot of the comments. I might add we can have it immediately above the comments so would value your opinion as to which you might like to see

I noted that when I chose Facebook in my profile it automatically used my Facebook avatar picture and there is a wee Facebook icon under the comment box where you can toggle Facebook on and off. When on your comment will also be posted to your Facebook account.

You can also just post a comment or reply to an existing one.

I note they have a 2012 version which is still under beta so once that completes its testing we may move to the new release without losing any data.

You can also provide a link to any web site in your comments and you can also upload a picture.

At this time you need to have an account to be able to post a comment and ALL comments are moderated meaning they won't show until I approve them. I do get an email for each comment placed and can simply reply to it to Approve or Delete the comment so making it easy and quick to moderate.

I'm leaving this test page up so you can play with it and of course I'd value your opinion and any suggestions on how many comments to list per page and the order the post should be shown. And of course any general comments on how you like the system or not as the case may be.

Alastair

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

I agree but I'm also fed up with Steve as he promised to change the login procedure for new account to address this issue and he is simply not doing it. He keeps saying he is working on it but if he really was it would have been done by now so he's not doing what he had promised to do.

Looks like I'll need to figure it out for myself.

Alastair

[Glesgalass]

Re: Comment System Help

Alastair, this spammer is getting ridiculous!!! It's really annoying, isn't it? I don't understand what they get out of it.

Elda

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

I just tried the login as a non user Joan and I was offered the chance of logging in with an account I already have with...

Disqus - I understand there are some 1.8 million web sites using Disqus so there is a chance people already have an account.
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Yahoo
OpenID

And so you can use any of these accounts to login if you already have one or under Disqus you can create an account with them if you wish.

As to your real name... my understanding is that when you create an account you can use any name you want. However you do need to provide a real email address as they need you to verify your account by clicking on a link in an email they send you.

As I said to Ranald this is not intended to be another social network but of course we'll just have to see how it develops if we use this system.

Alastair

[FriedaKateM]

Re: Comment System Help

Tried this as others did. I am on Google, but not sure I like the fact that my full name was requested.

OK? Joan

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

This system uses a third party server so there isn't anything we can do on the speed.

Also I'm not intending this to be a social network but rather a place where people can comment on a particular page of the site. So if someone is doing research and they get to one of our pages they might find something they know to be incorrect so if they wish they can add a comment to correct the information. They can also leave a comment where they want to add additional information.

I can see a possibility of a conversation between a few people where they are using the information on the page as a basis for discussion. However this is not intended to be a chat thing and hence why I am moderating the comments.

I do however want this to be user friendly so after I get it properly tested I may add some text just above it to explain its uses.

It does keep recognising my own login so I have yet to see what it is like from a visitors standpoint. I am intending to logout and then see what happens when I try to post a comment so I can better understand the process.

Alastair

[Ranald]

Re: Comment System Help

Hi Alastair

The login is not all that clear to use, and the message that your comment will have to be 'accepted' prior to it being on the board, is slow to show. This is so different to the old board, when the message shows immediatly..

As a result, I tried for a second time, and now see that both replies are shown.

I also thought that the login was not user friendly..... but then I'm an old duffer lol

Ranald

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

It wouldn't recognize that Hugh as it's on Electric Scotland and not the community. I believe you can login with a Twitter or Facebook account or just create a new user or indeed create an account with the same username and password you use for the Community.

The Community and the Comment system are two different programs intended for different audiences. Like at best we probably get no more than 500 or so people coming into the Community but we have at least 180,000 people visiting the ElectricScotland.com web site.

Alastair

Alastair

[Hugh]

Re: Comment System Help

Tried it but it would not let me log in with my ES name and password.

Cheers,

Hugh

[1938 Observer]

Re: Comment System Help

Alastair,

Tried it but not sure if it registered.

Gordon.

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

I'm now trying another system called Disqus. I have checked it out with both IE 9.0 and also Google Chrome and it works with both browsers.

It automatically recognised me when I test it out so can't yet figure out how it works with another user and so am asking again if you could check this out for me. As I understand it you likely need to sign up before you can comment but not certain of that.

Also it's been configured to moderate all comments so your post should not appear right away as I will need to moderate it before it will become public... or that is what should happen.

The page for testing is the same as before http://www.electricscotland.com/test.htm

So hopefully you can help by trying out the system and letting me know what you think.

Many thanks

Alastair

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

I didn't mention that you needed to create an account Sandy but as we'll be trying other comment systems they will all have the need to have an account. However I'm also trying to find systems that will allow you to use your Facebook or Twitter account to create an account with us.

I remember when we last tried a system a few years ago I got a ton of comments from children under the children stories part of the site. I kind of let some of them go through although they really didn't make much sense but hey... there are Kids after all <grin>

The only reason we didn't stick with that system was simply because there was no way to retain these comments and at that time we didn't know if the company would be around for very long. These days there are third party company that will allow you to take a backup of the comments to keep on your own server which is why I am looking at them again.

The system we favour and would like to use is configured in such a way that we can't get the email part of it to work and I have tech tickets out to see if they have fixed the problem.

Alastair

[sandyc]

Re: Comment System Help

I had not realised from the earlier posts that I needed to create an account.
I agree without the monitoring there will be lots of Spam...

Sandy

[Alastair]

Re: Comment System Help

You do need to create an account to post a message but you can also use a Facebook account to do that if you have one. The key to this is that by having an account you can get an email telling you if anyone had replied to your comment but without it that wouldn't be possible unless of course you logged back into the page to see if anyone else had commented.

I can allow Guests to post messages with this system but I'm personally convinced that all we'd get is either spam or totally useless messages. All the major newspapers only allow you to post if you register to have an account and I personally agree with this position.

Even in here we see many spam attacks from people that are still willing to create an account to spam us. That's also why I want to moderate all comments so I can either allow them or delete them before they become public. All of that is actually a lot of work for me personally but am prepared to do that to keep the comment system appropriate to the site and our content.

I mean look how many Blogs we ended up having and virtually all of them were spam. That's why I decided the only option I could take was to remove the Blog option from the community.

Alastair