The Nolan Chart is looking for your input as to whether we should change our comment system going forward from vBulletin to DISQUS by Walt Thiessen
(libertarian)
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Our 18 month experiment with vBulletin for our comment system has been underwhelming in its effectiveness in getting readers involved in on-site discussion about the articles published here. So I am looking for input from you, our readers and columnists, regarding whether we should change to the DISQUS commenting system.
Both Fox News and the San Francisco Examiner are examples of online publications that use the DISQUS system. It would have the major advantage that one would not need to have a Nolan Chart account in order to post a reader comment under an article. Instead, all a reader would need would be an already existing social networking account with a popular social networking medium such as Facebook, Twitter, or Google.
Another major advantage would be that we would be able to avoid the dreaded "article fragmented" error condition in Google News that sometimes causes our articles to get ignored by that venue. The error crops up most often when the Google News algorithm decides that an article reads more like a reader comment than like an actual article, and the result is that the article doesn't get included in Google News. The DISQUS system helps avoid this error because the reader comments don't actually appear from the Google spider's point-of-view as being a part of the article. Thus, reader comments won't prevent the article from being picked up by Google News. So please give me some input as to whether you like the idea of the Nolan Chart switching to the DISQUS reader comment system.
By the way, as a side note, we've recently been making various changes designed to improve our site's rankings in search and news results, as well as actively trying to reach out to more non-libertarian columnists to join us. Lately, we've been getting more liberal columnists signing on, so we are definitely seeing some positive results along these lines. The more columnists we get on board, the better visibility the site will continue to get. So thanks to all for what you all have done to support the site, particularly to all our active columnists!
Also, if you have any other suggestions about how to improve the site, don't ever hesitate to use the Contact link at the top of any page to send a suggestion or two our way. While I can't promise that the suggestion will be implemented, I certainly can promise that I'll read it and respond where appropriate.
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Posted By: Bill Gee
Date: October 17, 2011 07:38:35 AM
I'm generally not in favor of switching to DISQUS because I do not currently have, nor do I ever plan to own an account on any of the popular social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc. The system that I use to access this website blocks access to social network media, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that situation.
Perhaps if we provided a moderation feature in the comments section as well as the main articles, comments can be screened for relevance so that Google doesn't eliminate them in their search engines? We can also provide more detailed commentary guidance?
Posted By: Walt
Date: October 17, 2011 10:15:56 AM
I'm generally not in favor of switching to DISQUS because I do not currently have, nor do I ever plan to own an account on any of the popular social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc. The system that I use to access this website blocks access to social network media, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that situation.
Perhaps if we provided a moderation feature in the comments section as well as the main articles, comments can be screened for relevance so that Google doesn't eliminate them in their search engines? We can also provide more detailed commentary guidance?
The problem is not that the comments being left are not relevant. To the contrary, they've largely been quite relevant. Rather, the problem is two-fold:
(1) Comments currently appear on the page in a way that insures they are spidered by the search engines. This was true for the original system I wrote as well as the VBulletin system. Even relevant comments look like comments. Relevant comments also lead to the error mentioned in the article.
(2) The vBulletin system has actually discouraged readers from commenting, based on the number of comments received.
Regarding social media: DISQUS also offers its own account setup, for those who prefer not to use the popular social media. So you can still comment without having a Facebook, Twitter, or Google account.
Posted By: thomaslknapp
Date: October 18, 2011 07:14:01 AM
IntenseDebate (intensedebate.com).
I've used both Disqus and IntenseDebate on my sites. They're both free, both reasonably easy to install, etc., but IntenseDebate just generally seems more user-friendly, especially on the admin end.
Posted By: Walt
Date: October 19, 2011 04:07:58 PM
IntenseDebate (intensedebate.com).
I've used both Disqus and IntenseDebate on my sites. They're both free, both reasonably easy to install, etc., but IntenseDebate just generally seems more user-friendly, especially on the admin end.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't intensedebate.com comments get indexed by search engines? If so, that gives more incentive to spammers to spam those comment sections, since the main goal of a comment spammer is to get back a link to their own site. That's one of the reasons I really liked the DISQUS system. Comments made on it don't get spidered, which means that they won't negatively affect our articles in Google News.
