Thanks to everyone who chimed in about commenting systems. It seems that bloggers are frustrated with "default" commenting systems. I've made the switch to Disqus, and someone at Disqus actually posted a response to my post! That's more than I can say for the silent Blogger (boo!).
Also, a Google search led me to adding a Facebook comment box on your blog. But I don't particularly like it because I don't want readers to have to sign-in using Facebook to comment.
In case you didn't "Subscribe by email" or "RSS" to the comments, here's what Tyler Hayes from Disqus had to say (emphases added):
Since the topic is fresh, I wanted to pop in and mention that we do offer some more granular notification options though they may not be obvious at first. As you mentioned there is a "Subscribe by email" link at the bottom of any Disqus comments area which will allow you to — logged-in to Disqus or not — effectively listen in on the conversation without having to comment.
However, for registered Disqus users, by default any time you comment on a thread you'll receive email notifications of only replies to your comments (and also @mentions of you, e.g., Lisa Ng). This can be changed in the Notifications tab at http://disqus.com to enable notifications for all new comments on threads on which you comment, rather than just replies, too.
If we can ever lend a hand with anything, or if you just have any thoughts or feedback, don't hesitate to reach out to us at http://disqus.com/support.
Smiles :). I did some questions on Disqus and found most of the answers at http://disqus.com/support.
1. What are "Reactions"?
By default, Disqus enables Reactions. At the end of all the comments, Reactions show other places around the web where your post is being discussed. For instance, when I tweet about my post, it shows up in the Reactions section. I disabled the "Reactions" for now.
2. What do the "Share on: twitter | facebook" options mean?
It means that my response to a comment would be posted to Twitter and/or Facebook. So to respond to Tyler Hayes and make sure he gets it, I can add @thetaylorhayes so that when my response posts to Twitter, he's mentioned in it and can check it out.
Notice the grey boxes around the Twitter handles (also underlined in green below). If you connect your Twitter and Disqus accounts, type "@" and a few more letters of a Twitter handle you want to mention, and voila, you'll get a drop down menu to choose from. The "@" can also mention other commenters in the conversation, but unless they're registered Disqus users, they may not see your response.
Here's what my tweet looked like. Note: Just saw that Twitter has a new "Embed this Tweet" feature. "Open" the tweet and click "Details" to find this feature. Cool.
RE: Thanks for the response @thetaylorhayes ! Better than the silent @Blogger ;) disq.us/5lbpja
— lisacng (@lisacng) February 21, 2012
This mention feature doesn't seem to work with Facebook. Please let me know if I'm wrong.
3. When I have 0 comments, how do I change that to read something else?
This was soooo easy. Just go to Settings >> Appearance on Disqus. You can change the message when there's 0 comments, 1 comment, or multiple comments.
I was able to change this for Blogger's default commenting system, but it involved customizing the template, which involved opening up the html file and searching for code. Ew. Yuck. I'd love to show you, if there's interest. Leave a comment letting me know!
According to this blogger, a "0 comments" is one reason he leaves a blog within 3 seconds. A very eye-opening read for me!
4. How do I change the appearance of the Disqus form?
This one's going to need some CSS code (under Settings >> Apperance), which is saved for another day!!
What tweaks have you made to Disqus?
Let me know if you're interested in how to change the "0 comments" in Blogger!
