A new comment system, converting to Disqus

For a while now I’ve been inviting comments to the design and product section of this website via a fabulous service called Disqus. I have been looking into adding that same system to this blog space, and finally got to work and completed the task today. You may not notice much difference, all the original comments are in tact and displayed. However, for me, the admin and ability to get involved in the conversation is fabulous! I am hoping I can talk with you all more as you bring up various topics.. so yes please, jump in and say something!

Now I’m going to get a little techie on you. If you don’t currently have a blog, and especially a WordPress blog, please continue on to your regularly scheduled day — of course, after you a leave a happy comment below.

Also, a little tutorial…

I’d like to share the process I took to add Disqus to my wordpress blog, as the directions on the site were a bit outdated for what is available, and I ended up having to dig around a bit to figure out how to make things work. It’s easy.. I promise!

As of this writing, I am using WordPress 2.7 and the Disqus plugin, version 2.03-3166.

1. Backup your current WP database for safe keeping.

2. download the Disqus plugin

3. Upload the entire folder to your WP plugins directory on your website. the Disqus files should be in their own folder

4. Activate the plugin via the WP admin area.

5. Continue on to configure the plugin – you will be asked to enter your username and password so your comments sync correctly. Do this to ensure the ability to convert all your original comments to the Disqus system.

6. Choose “Advanced Options” in the Disqus admin (in your WP admin, not the Disqus site). You should see a Disqus key that was auto entered when you did step 5. Now scroll down to the import option.

Importing takes a little bit of time to process, be patient.

And voila, there you go, all done. Piece of cake, right?

Now you should be able to not only manage the comments on your own site, but via the admin you can start following all the Disqus conversations you get involved with.

Happy chatting!