

Disqus: Scoble, Winer and Fred Wilson Like it, Why I Don't - nickb
http://blogbusinesssummit.com/2007/12/disqus-scoble-winer-and-fred-wilson-like-it-why-i-dont.htm

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steve____
As long as I can download and/or sync my comments elsewhere _and_ have the
ability to completely remove my comments from their site, I'm happy.

For me the huge plus is receiving blog comments via email. Currently they are
not sending the MessageID in the Reference field so messages aren't showing up
as threaded, but they are aware of this. IMO blog comments should be handled
like mailing lists/news groups.

------
tlrobinson
Personally, I don't really care where the comments show up on Google searches.

What I _do_ care about is the fact that it took about 30 seconds to sign up
and add the Javascript snippet to my site's footer template. It couldn't have
been easier.

Removing as many hurdles as possible is key.

~~~
rontr
Problem is Google penalizes pages with duplicate content by lowering their
PageRank. If comments are duplicated on your blog as well as on discus.com,
your blog could pay a price.

~~~
tlrobinson
But they aren't duplicated, since the comments show up in a JavaScript
generated iframe (although I admit that's not ideal)

The Googlebot doesn't execute JavaScript, or count iframe'd pages as part of
the original page.

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mattmaroon
I think this is a problem they are working on and will solve in time. And it's
one I'm willing to put up with since in return I get kick-ass threaded
comments that I can read and reply to via email.

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cosmok
after having trouble integrating Disqus with sansj, I started using
<http://js-kit.com/comments/?wow> and they claim that search engines index the
comments on your site.

~~~
danielha
Sorry for the trouble - would love to hear about it though: daniel@disqus.com

Btw, search engines access j-kit's comments by indexing the RSS feed. You
could probably fiddle with a DNS CNAME to have the RSS appear as if from "your
domain."

This is far from a solution.

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tocomment
I emailed Daniel about this. One feature I'd really like to see is a way to
"reuse" the user accounts I have on my own site. I don't want to tell users,
oh if you want to comment you have to sign up for a new account over here..

I haven't given it enough thought to know if that is possible though :-(

~~~
tlrobinson
If both Disqus and your site used OpenID you would get that for free :)

Unfortunately it appears that neither does :(

Anyone developing a new website should take the little extra time to support
OpenID authentication, it would make the world a better place.

However, one nice thing about Disqus (like OpenID) is that you only have to
register with Disqus once, and any blog using Disqus can use that one account.

~~~
danielha
We like OpenID and you'll see it show up soon.

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alaskamiller
Ruh-roh, Shaggy. Someone figured out that embedded iframes on your webpage
doesn't make it your webpage anymore.

~~~
bootload
_"... Jason showed Disqus to me a few weeks back, and I seriously considered
using it -- until I figured out that you don't own your comments anymore.
..."_

A quick check of the faq, blog and api disproves this. You do own your
comments and better still you can extract them via xml.

\- <http://disqus.com/faq/#faq-7>

\- <http://disqus.com/developers/#api-methods>

\- [http://blog.disqus.net/2007/11/05/export-comments-to-xml-
com...](http://blog.disqus.net/2007/11/05/export-comments-to-xml-community-
forum/)

So you own your comments, can get access to the data. The only real data
disqus can claim ownership is the right to infer from your data. It's this
distinction that makes me think using the disqus service is valuable because
they give you the ability to take your data away.

~~~
alaskamiller
I've interpreted his concern as two folds:

1) He's worried that the comments no longer are in his control, ie, on his
server.

2) He's worried that because the comments no longer being his server, can not
be cached by Google. He wants that Google juice, but when the comments now
reside on the disqus.com domain, it's harder to connect the two.

The second one is a biggie. For the power users, they won't like this at all.
The blogspot/wordpress.com folks wouldn't care, but the ones that make it
their business to blog professionally would.

~~~
bootload
_"... He's worried that because the comments no longer being his server, can
not be cached by Google. He wants that Google juice, but when the comments now
reside on the disqus.com domain, it's harder to connect the two. ..."_

Then suck the comments up via xml or at the api (at some time in future TM)
and redisplay your documents. Of course the other alternative is to host your
own comments and deal with the associated problems. I guess the pro's should
earn their money and deal with the comments with their own tech, time &
resources.

For the rest of the world there is always alternatives and this service is
looking good because of the _"Freedom to Leave"_. Meaning you can stay because
you are free to leave at any time. [0] So if you are a developer _"Lock-in is
the new Lock-out"_. The ability to get your data out is a feature of lots of
successful services that attracted early adopters.

[0] SImon Phipps, Zen of Free, OSCON 2006,
[http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/advocacy/events/tech...](http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/advocacy/events/techdays/paris/Zen_Of_Free.pdf)

~~~
alaskamiller
That seems so circular and stupid.

Hi guys: here's my page. Comment on it, it resides on a separate server.

Hi guys: every week I'm going to update all my pages with an XML file to
update the comments that reside on a separate server.

Like I said, the power users will not want to cede as much control or deal
with so much bullshit. They want the comments on their server reflected
through Google crawl. So Disqus is left with a choice if they choose to pursue
the power users, sell it as a plugin and give them the code, or get bought out
by WordPress or Moveable Type.

~~~
bootload
_"... the power users will not want to cede as much control or deal with so
much bullshit ..."_

Power users can code :)

 _"... So Disqus is left with a choice if they choose to pursue the power
users ..."_

Is this the market they are in? I'm not sure but Dave Winer sure handles
Disqus ~
[http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/11/29/specificallyAbou...](http://www.scripting.com/stories/2007/11/29/specificallyAboutPodcastin.html)

Scripting News is about as power user as you can get. I'm not sure what the
Disqus target market is but I don't think it's the power-users that will have
the problems as you suggest.

------
jey
Even if this guy had a point to make, he sure as hell did not make it with
that example. That example seems to indicate that Jason's site isn't even
indexed by Google, so of course it doesn't show up.

~~~
tlrobinson
The point is the _comments_ aren't indexed as part of your site _because_ they
are displayed in an iframe from Disqus's servers. They show up as belonging to
Disqus, not you.

~~~
danielha
Comments are not displayed in an iframe.

Search engines do not index included JavaScript properly.

~~~
tlrobinson
Err, yeah I guess just the new comment box is in the iframe, but obviously
most web crawlers aren't going to execute the JavaScript that displays
existing comments.

It sounds like your API addresses this, but as someone mentioned, what about
the problem of Google penalizing sites with content showing up in multiple
places?

~~~
danielha
Yeah, it's definitely a problem. It'll need SEO work on our end and that's
what we're doing.

