Is it really a complete alternative? It looks like you have to host it yourself (one of the main appeals of Disqus was that you could add comments to any static page).
Also, it would be nice if they supported a SQLite backend, which would probably make more sense for small blogs running on very weak shared servers.
Using a Mozilla product that isn't Firefox is a great way to have a crucial piece of your web infrastructure discontinued about three months before it's production-ready.
They seem to be the kind of advertisement I wouldn't certainly want to be associated with ("Earn money online fast", "Doctors hate this new method of losing weight" [1]) so it looks like I'm turning off comments in my blog. Does anyone know a good alternative for static Jekyll sites?
I don't run an ad-blocker, but I blocked Disqus in my hosts file ages ago (as a side effect, I don't see comments on sites that use Disqus; this has not affected my life so far). Them and Taboola have always been the unabashedly scummy bottom of the barrel: even before native ads were ubiquitous, they were way ahead of the game with running extremely low-quality scam ads disguised as publisher content.
So they basically distributed the product as „free“ to install on millions of pages with the intention to turn them into an ad-network after some time? Smart move...
This article appears very WordPress centric. While I assume they'd add ads to the Javascript downloaded and run on the page, there is a possibility of this only applying to the plugin, does anyone know for sure?
I use Disqus on a static Jekyll generated page and adding ads to my blog saddens me. My blog doesn't get much traffic, but it's always nice to see an email when someone cares enough about what I wrote to comment. I fear I'll have to migrate to something else if this holds true. Alternatives for my low traffic, low touch (I'm not a web dev) blog?
Hi there, I work at Disqus. Just wanted to clarify that Disqus will continue to be free w/ optional advertising for small / non-commercial sites. This makes up the vast majority of total number of sites on our network.
It appears very WordPress centric because this was posted on a website targeting WordPress hosting for business. But they'll affect anyone using the Disqus widget in their sites.
I don't understand this obsession against ads on HN. The only countries that don't have ads in the streets are North Korea and before that the Soviet Union. It's a great way to let people know about your business and participate peacefully into the free exchange of goods and services with our other fellow human beings. And in computing it allows to offer amazing services to the poorest for free (google, facebook etc). In Peru for example where I used to live, students had to buy expensive books before or just couldn't find good source of education for free easily to help them with their studies, they now can and it really changed people's life (eg my wife's :)).
Edit: no need to downvote just because you disagree...
I feel sad when I see Disqus enabled on some of the honest and serious platforms, where conversation can be civil (and is generally civil) and manageable (you get a sense of authentic participation and dialog). I most often do not bother to login to participate because of these creepy issues with privacy (tracking) and Ads. I understand they have to provide value and make money, but ...
I only notice Disqus when it doesn't work—missing comments, broken links, terrible Javascript loading, etc. So my impression of Disqus is their failure case. I have no sense of implementations when it works well, let alone "long-tail" issues like privacy or advertising. I just see the Disqus logo and think, "Ugh... Discus."
Thanks for the feedback. We care about our user's privacy and provide a way for anyone to easily opt-out of data sharing here https://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/1657951 (also accessible via the Privacy link at the bottom navigation of every Disqus comment embed. We also honor the Do Not Track setting if you have it enabled in your web browser.
One would expect a large platform to be able to filter "My xx makes yy$ an hour" on every instance, yet the only thing they've done is making guest posting harder.
I hadn't heard about this until now. And in my case, I'll be disabling Disqus on the site I use it on. We don't have enough activity to justify a $10/month charge, and I am not at all fond of their ad system. I totally understand the reasoning, it just doesn't work well for us.
I see this decision as good in the sense that it allows the people hosting comments sections to pay Disqus directly, allowing it to be somewhat more independent.
The more I learn about advertising, the more I find arguments against it compelling. Disqus is a comment system that facilitates the free exchange of ideas. If it relies significantly on ads, then advertisers can begin to police it by threatening to pull sponsorship. This eliminates productive discussion that threatens the interests of advertisers. For instance, advertisers don't like placing ads alongside people that care too much about things, they prefer people to be lightly entertained and in a buying mood. They also don't like placing their ads alongside controversy, as it can negatively impact their brand.
Thus reliance on advertising introduces an interdependency on a relatively small set of giant corporations' goodwill, even for niche activities and will, which when push comes to shove, substitute their positions for the managers' of Disqus. Allowing advertisements to be turned off actually immunized Disqus somewhat from this problem, but having advertisements on everywhere enables it. Allowing users to pay to turn them off probably more than offsets this, though it does impact exceptionally poor users (who, for some reason, are probably more likely to dissent controversially). That could be ameliorated by case-by-case ad waivers if the issue comes up, though it does come close to Disqus endorsing a controversial issue.
Maybe this seems like a minor issue, but Disqus provides a platform for debate, and advertising can act to bound the limits of debate for better or worse. I would prefer if the Disqus managers could act according to their own moral compass when under pressure.
Good decision for the company, but no upside for the user.
I have a strong policy against inline ads, so I may have to reconsider using Disqus for my blog if this goes through. (Unfortunately, the only competiton left is Facebook Comments)
I feel conflicted right now. On the one hand, I'm really happy to know there are plugins that I wasn't aware of to disable comments. On the other hand, I learned about it from a comment...
I've been wrestling with why I feel so uncomfortable with this move. About the best analogy I've come up with: this feels like I've been using a maid service for years. They've done a reliable job keeping my place clean for when I have guests over. They decide that it is time to raise their rates, but rather than come directly to me to negotiate a pay increase they decide that they can just sell billfold space in my house when they clean.
It seems like a violation of a social contract, because my blog is my house and I don't intend to have advertising there, even if I did I'm too small of a fry to make any money that way.
I realize that no one wants to raise rates, and this sort of business model if I had been given the choice up front I'd probably be fine with... If I wasn't also growing increasingly weary of the race-to-bottom-feeding, increasingly toxic ad markets, which has been a concern worrying me the last few months and I haven't had any good ideas, but I certainly don't want my blog participating in that for what tiny bit that is worth.
You could see them going this route, so it isn't surprising.
But, I wish their product, which now requires ads or dollars, was actually decent. As an unpaid/no-ads alternative to rolling your own it's barely passable. But paying real money or serving ads, for this junk? No way.
[+] [-] gobengo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JD557|9 years ago|reply
Also, it would be nice if they supported a SQLite backend, which would probably make more sense for small blogs running on very weak shared servers.
[+] [-] stonogo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JorgeGT|9 years ago|reply
----
[1] https://twitter.com/amitbhawani/status/828554455876505601
[+] [-] wutbrodo|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philfrasty|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] niftich|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 2bluesc|9 years ago|reply
I use Disqus on a static Jekyll generated page and adding ads to my blog saddens me. My blog doesn't get much traffic, but it's always nice to see an email when someone cares enough about what I wrote to comment. I fear I'll have to migrate to something else if this holds true. Alternatives for my low traffic, low touch (I'm not a web dev) blog?
[+] [-] brevityness|9 years ago|reply
Here was a comment related to this topic on the blog post https://kinsta.com/blog/disqus-ads/#comment-3153203837
We're planning to post an update clarifying this on our blog soon.
[+] [-] danirod|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brianjackson|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] e12e|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spaceboy|9 years ago|reply
Also relevant: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-04-14/this-tech...
[+] [-] patrickaljord|9 years ago|reply
Edit: no need to downvote just because you disagree...
[+] [-] webwanderings|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] basseq|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brevityness|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] c3833174|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] raverbashing|9 years ago|reply
They seem to be an ok company, but their business model is a sinking ship
[+] [-] ocdtrekkie|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fosco|9 years ago|reply
also - to make the internet better http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/
[+] [-] ffef|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SapphireSun|9 years ago|reply
The more I learn about advertising, the more I find arguments against it compelling. Disqus is a comment system that facilitates the free exchange of ideas. If it relies significantly on ads, then advertisers can begin to police it by threatening to pull sponsorship. This eliminates productive discussion that threatens the interests of advertisers. For instance, advertisers don't like placing ads alongside people that care too much about things, they prefer people to be lightly entertained and in a buying mood. They also don't like placing their ads alongside controversy, as it can negatively impact their brand.
Thus reliance on advertising introduces an interdependency on a relatively small set of giant corporations' goodwill, even for niche activities and will, which when push comes to shove, substitute their positions for the managers' of Disqus. Allowing advertisements to be turned off actually immunized Disqus somewhat from this problem, but having advertisements on everywhere enables it. Allowing users to pay to turn them off probably more than offsets this, though it does impact exceptionally poor users (who, for some reason, are probably more likely to dissent controversially). That could be ameliorated by case-by-case ad waivers if the issue comes up, though it does come close to Disqus endorsing a controversial issue.
Maybe this seems like a minor issue, but Disqus provides a platform for debate, and advertising can act to bound the limits of debate for better or worse. I would prefer if the Disqus managers could act according to their own moral compass when under pressure.
[+] [-] minimaxir|9 years ago|reply
I have a strong policy against inline ads, so I may have to reconsider using Disqus for my blog if this goes through. (Unfortunately, the only competiton left is Facebook Comments)
[+] [-] overcast|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brightball|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] schiffern|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tracker1|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] camus2|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WorldMaker|9 years ago|reply
I've been wrestling with why I feel so uncomfortable with this move. About the best analogy I've come up with: this feels like I've been using a maid service for years. They've done a reliable job keeping my place clean for when I have guests over. They decide that it is time to raise their rates, but rather than come directly to me to negotiate a pay increase they decide that they can just sell billfold space in my house when they clean.
It seems like a violation of a social contract, because my blog is my house and I don't intend to have advertising there, even if I did I'm too small of a fry to make any money that way.
I realize that no one wants to raise rates, and this sort of business model if I had been given the choice up front I'd probably be fine with... If I wasn't also growing increasingly weary of the race-to-bottom-feeding, increasingly toxic ad markets, which has been a concern worrying me the last few months and I haven't had any good ideas, but I certainly don't want my blog participating in that for what tiny bit that is worth.
[+] [-] draw_down|9 years ago|reply
But, I wish their product, which now requires ads or dollars, was actually decent. As an unpaid/no-ads alternative to rolling your own it's barely passable. But paying real money or serving ads, for this junk? No way.
[+] [-] aphextron|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] revicon|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rxlim|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] e12e|9 years ago|reply
https://muut.com/pricing/
(Not affiliated, nor a customer - just became aware of them because of their open source js framework, riot (riotjs.com)).
[+] [-] Markoff|9 years ago|reply
ublock on desktop, adaway, netguard or dozen alternatives on mobile
[+] [-] draw_down|9 years ago|reply
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