
Disqus launches Sponsored Comments - dko
http://blog.disqus.com/post/82003625662/heads-up-were-testing-a-new-form-of-advertising
======
ilamont
Disappointing, considering how ubiquitous Disqus is on American news sites.
This means we'll be seeing more ads and promos on pages already packed with
commercial messages.

FWIW, I rarely bother reading Disqus threads (glacial load times and poor
sorting) and stopped contributing after many of my comments started being
flagged as spam.

~~~
anigbrowl
I already have Ghostery set to block Disqus both because of the slow load
times and because 99% of the commentary on news websites and blogs is mind-
polluting drivel. I struggle with clinical depression and ADD, and I've taken
up using blockers and CSS restylers to hide the comment interface completely
on most websites I visit because I reliazed I was only look at them to get an
emotional kick similar to troll venom.

I think there's a much better business model that Ghostery (and many other
vendros) have completely missed, but I'm pretty sure I would gt heavily flamed
for proposing it.

~~~
anigbrowl
Sigh...that should have said 'that _Disqus_ (and many other vendors) have
missed', not Ghostery, which is awesome and has a smart business model
already. Sorry about that.

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mattmaroon
I am sure they will be pilloried for this, but I never begrudge a company
trying to come up with a sustainable revenue model. Nobody ever thought "I
sure wish I saw more ads online" and people gripe every time they pop up
somewhere new, and yet everyone wants free services. So I say good luck
brothers.

~~~
bayesianhorse
Free service does not mean "riddled with advertisement".

A lot of the sites I consider high-value don't do advertising at all.
Khanacademy, Coursera, Hackernews, Github ...

It's like saying open source software is created by students trying to avoid
license fees.

~~~
mattmaroon
That's kind of silly to point out not for profits and freemiym services. Not
all products lend themselves to one of those.

~~~
bayesianhorse
It's kind of silly to point out that not all products lend themselves to any
particular model, isn't that right?

I have the impression that would-be-creators are rushing towards specific
advertising or pay-for-access models too quickly.

~~~
mattmaroon
They've been in business for over 7 years. I know because I was in the same YC
batch as them. They have not rushed into anything.

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minimaxir
It should be noted that Disqus ads are opt- _out_ , meaning that new accounts
have to explicitly disable ads.

Ads were OK when they were text link to another site a la AdWords: it was
clear that they are ads. Native comment ads, however, can be deceptive.

~~~
bergie
Interestingly I don't see an opt-out option for sponsored comments in the
admin panel.

~~~
jamesbritt
Do you already have ads turned off?

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jqm
Are the ads going to say things like "my sisters cousin makes $2000 a month by
surfing the internet"?

Because if so, I think the program has already started

~~~
rebel
I wonder if people already have gotten a head start on becoming ad-blind to
these types of ads...

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danso
From the OP: "So, What Are Sponsored Comments?"

> _Sponsored Comments let businesses deliver a message to the people they need
> to reach. A Sponsored Comment can use all types of media to get their point
> across, just like any other Disqus comment. But they’re not part of the
> discussion happening on that thread or community itself. That’s too
> disruptive._

 _So instead, they’re pinned to the top of the discussion environment where
things are just getting started. It’s like movie previews._

So...why not call them by their old fashioned name: "ads"? I don't disapprove
of ad-based models, but something seems a bit disingenuous to use the term
"Comments" when they are not "comments" at all. Unless users are able to
respond to them and not have their comments hidden.

It's hard to imagine advertisers being happy about users getting to attach
negative comments onto the ads. And if those threads get to be a snark train,
then that pushes all the regular discussion down even further. So either the
"sponsored comment"-discussions are hidden, or advertisers AND site-users are
inconvenienced.

~~~
jlgaddis
_> Unless users are able to respond to them and not have their comments
hidden._

In the screenshots, there's a "Reply" button under the ad^W"Sponsored
Comment". Want to take bets on how long it'll be until that goes away? I can
see exactly what you described happening.

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xxxmadraxxx
"Sponsored Comments", "Sponsored Tweets"... amazing how many people struggle
to spell "Spam" properly.

Oh well. Won't bother me. I've already got Ghostery configured to block
Disqus.

~~~
jlgaddis
Seriously.

Let me say up front that I have a strong dislike for marketing and sales
people. They surprise me sometimes, though.

FTA:

 _> "If we can complement the experience people already enjoy using Disqus
..."_

 _> "So instead, they’re pinned to the top of the discussion environment where
things are just getting started. It’s like movie previews. It’s not the thing
you came for, but if done well, it adds a little bit to your experience ..."_

I've learned over the years that some of these folks really truly _believe_
this -- that they are making the world^Wweb a better place by displaying more
ads in more places.

I don't remember the last time I left a comment on a site that uses Disqus
but, seriously, who the ____ "enjoy[s] using Disqus"? It's just not something
that you "enjoy" doing, although the marketing/P.R. people would seem to
believe that you do.

~~~
smacktoward
_> I've learned over the years that some of these folks really truly believe
this -- that they are making the world^Wweb a better place by displaying more
ads in more places._

As Upton Sinclair
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair))
used to say, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his
salary depends upon his not understanding it."

~~~
001sky
_" It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it."_

This is a useful reminder for many topics.

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baby
I do own a couple websites using disqus but I don't care too much about what
comment makes it first. But for a personal blog, or a company that makes a lot
of money, seeing people advertising in your comments would be a good excuse to
start coding a home-made comment system.

~~~
brokentone
A. Commenting at scale is hard. Believe me, I know. We run the largest
Wordpress website out there, and decided to rewrite commenting inhouse. It's
been... hard.

B. There are a handful of other good providers out there that hopefully this
will give more business to.

~~~
larrys
"We run the largest Wordpress website out there, and decided to rewrite
commenting inhouse."

Can you elaborate on the reasons for doing so and what motivated that action?

~~~
brokentone
We wanted to own our data, wanted to maintain existing user accounts, don't
care about federated commenting login, want to keep old comments on old
stories, and didn't really feel like paying someone (or letting someone
suddenly add ads to it).

Building it from scratch on top of the WP database made sense for us. The WP
commenting code is some of the worst (and oldest) stuff in the entire codex.

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booruguru
How do you propose Disqus earn revenue/stay in business. There's little
incentive for publishes to pay for a commenting platform when they could just
go back to using a shitty internal solution. (Although, admittedly, some
publishers do pay discuss for enterprise solutions, but if that were more
lucrative than ads, why would the bother with ads?)

I never cease to be amazed by people who bitch about seeing ads within a
product/service they use for free. Someone has to pay for this.

~~~
bayesianhorse
Ads are annoying. People bitch about annoyances. No wonder there.

"Someone has to pay for this" is the wrong attitude. Either the service
provider provides the service or he doesn't. If I'm not in a contract to pay
them, I don't assume responsibility for paying anything...

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nilved
It was clear that Disqus had jumped the shark after they first added opt-out
ads, but I suppose the slope is slippery.

~~~
bentlegen
I commented on this elsewhere in this thread:

 _> This is no longer true – they're opt-in. And by invitation only._

~~~
nilved
I don't see what that has to do with my comment.

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leejoramo
Any recommendations for alternatives to Disqus that have roughly feature
parity and which allow me to pay them for their services?

~~~
opendais
LiveFyre, IntenseDebate are the only two that have rough feature parity and
they don't take money either.

I guess an opportunity for someone to go build one? ;)

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lnlyplnt
Honestly I think this is promising. The format is not "shady" or disruptive,
and the company seems to have a good understanding that adds done poorly can
be damaging.

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akilism
wonder how much this has to do with them getting rid of showing down votes on
comments

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beerz
This is disappointing, but not surprising. Sigh.

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cm2012
Just reached out to them to test this out.

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na85
Yet another reason to avoid Disqus

