FreThink

As soon as I installed TweetDeck on my Linux partition today and fired it up, I noticed a Twitter reply from December 16th I hadn’t noticed before. So first I’ll apologize to db0 for my inattentiveness and now I’ll get to the substance of his Tweet.

Here is db0’s challenge:

But of course that’s not a proper reason and I think it’s time for me to actually write  in detail why I preferred one over the other. And since I’m doing that, I thought I might as well make this my first meme and perhaps trigger others to explain for themselves why they use their current choice. This will hopefully create a body of opinions which might give bloggers enough information about each option from all sides of the argument, to make an informed decision.

So the rules of the Comment Wars meme are the following:

1. Declare which system you prefer and perhaps give a short history of your decision.
2. List the reasons of why you prefer you current system choice over the direct competitor (If you’re using IDC, your competitor is Disqus and the other way around).
3. (Optionally) list the reasons why you prefer your current system over your blog’s default comment system (Wordpress, Blogger or Typepad most likely). If you’re still using your default system, instead list the reasons why you consider it superior to both IDC and Disqus.
4. Link to the person who tagged you for this meme.
5. Link to any other people who are using any third-party comment system of whom you care to know why they chose as they did.  You can also link to any people who are still using the built-in comment system and you want to know why. Make sure to leave them a comment or send an email to inform them that they have been tagged.

The commenting systems in question are Disqus, Intense Debate and the built-in commenting structure of Word Press/Blogger/What_have_you. I use Disqus on this blog (and on most the blogs I’ve created) and Intense Debate on one other. I don’t rely on WP’s built-in commenting option on any blog except one with wordpress.com.

Ironically, I installed Intense Debate on that one site because I was hoping for a lot of, well, intense debate. I figured Disqus could handle the volume of comments I anticipated on my other blogs, especially this one. I like to think I’m far more controversial over there than I am here. Instead this blog has garnered far more comments than the one with ID installed.

I have StumbleUpon and it’s devotees (addicts?) to thank for that. Most of my traffic here comes from SU. Since neither of tem are tech blogs or gadget blogs, my comments will never make a dent on Digg or Techmeme. StumbleUpon is Digg for blogs that address society or philosophy. StumbleUpon is also similar to crack cocaine. Once you start clicking that damned “Stumble” button…

I appreciate the differences between IntenseDebate (ID) and Disqus, both have their strengths and weaknesses. The dashboard for ID offers more options than Disqus’ interface. But I find I’m not using the extra options much. Disqus’ simpler dashboard allows me to do everything I need it for on a regular basis. Since both allow me to reply by email, I often don’t notice which system I’m using, since to me it’s Google’s Gmail interface. Gmail provides organization by threading the comments better than either ID or Disqus.

They both integrate into the WP backend pretty much the same. I don’t read or write comments via cell phone, so how well they do that, I don’t know. It’s not a factor.

Seeing as how I get far fewer comments than db0 or vjack do, I’m not the most informed person to judge these two services. They both work about the same for me and I prefer both of them to the built-in comments. I also don’t need the advanced features available, so they’re pretty much wasted on me.  A lot is wasted on me. And I get wasted a lot. That’s how I maintain balance in my life. Zen, you know.

I haven’t a clue who among other bloggers I know well enough to tag (those I suspect may read this whole post and see themselves mentioned) would be interested in debating this issue. So if you’ve read this far and have an opinion on this topic, join in and consider yourself tagged.