Dec 04 2007
Blogger Changes Commenting System
Blogger’s new changes to the commenting system has caused somewhat of a stir around the blogosphere.
Sue has weighed in with a detailed analysis, and is labelling it unfair to all bloggers. Kelley has expressed her dissatisfaction in no uncertain terms.
The alternatives seem to be:
- Put up with it
- Complain to Google
- Install Haloscan (WARNING: all earlier comments will no longer display)
- Move to WordPress
I confess that I haven’t paid a lot of attention to OpenID. But the latest move by Blogger seems to indicate that we may well be forced to adopt it in some way, shape or form if we want things to continue as normal.
I’ve never particularly liked the blogger commenting system, but many of the blogs I enjoy are using this platform. I like to comment, and I also like the blog owner to know who I am and where I blog.
The few times I have commented under this new system I have used the “nickname” option where I will write Meg (Blogpond). This is generally enough to identify me to the owners of blogs I visit frequently. But it’s not very informative to new blogs that I might comment on.
Another Option for Blogger Blogs
Trying to make sense of this, I happened to stumble on this post in Blogger Known Issues.
Blogger has removed the URL field for unauthenticated comments. Instead, we’re rolling out support for OpenID, a technology for “signing” your comments with your own URL. OpenID lets you comment with the URL you want, while preventing others from impersonating you. Blog admins can turn on OpenID now on Blogger in Draft.
It would appear there is a new draft version of Blogger. I can’t comment on how robust this version is, or if there are any problems with it, but I do have a test blogger blog, and it seems to work fine in this new mode.
As I understand all you need to do to activate this draft mode is to go the the new draft URL (again, I don’t know if there are any other implications of this, so it might be worthwhile checking about before clicking on this URL).
If you go into your commenting options you will see the following:
If you currently accept comments from “anyone”, I’d recommend you leave it that way. The new commenting area will look like this:
In the next post, I’ll show how bloggers can set up an OpenID so that their blog URL shows up rather than an OpenId address or Blogger profile.
24 Responses to “Blogger Changes Commenting System”
Well I should have waited before venting my spleen! As always the amazing Meg comes to the rescue with well thought out, RESEARCHED advice, rather than my expletive filled direction to either use Haloscan or move to WordPress…
Still think everyone should move to wordpress and the owners should give me a cut. At least enough to fund my shoe and Christmas tree habit.
Will be directing everyone here.
Oh, forgot to add, lurve the new banner! I want a Christmas banner!!!!
Hey Kelley
No, not at all. This information has only just been posted, and I happened to fall over it. The Haloscan option is a good one, but I know if it was me, I wouldn’t like to lose all my comments. Similarly, wordpress would be a good option (and I considered a “how to move to wordpress” post), but it’s also hard to leave the security of a domain and a blogging platform people are familiar with.
So when I stumbled on this other option, I thought blogspot bloggers might be interested. Still, I think that it should have been really spelled out a lot better – I’m sure there’s a lot of confusion and WTF? going on.
Thanks
I admit, I cheat and put in my old blogger profile, so if anyone were to click to me through it, it auto matically redirects you to the other place. Links as Links aren’t all the important to me (just a little ;))
Otherwise, I agree. It’s SO annoying
I think the new system SUCKS! Non-Blogger users aren’t commenting like they used to because the URL field is no longer there. I wasn’t even aware of this until today when one of my readers emailed me wondering what was up. LOL, I was wondering why today’s posts didn’t have any chit-chat going on. 😛
Guess we’ll have to see how this one plays out.
Shine on,
Aaron
Thanks Meg..I don’t comment here as much as I should. Generally because someone has already either asked the question I wanted to ask or said what I wanted to say.
I linked to you using the rss thingy almost as soon as I discovered your blog.or at least as soon as Veronica showed me how to do it ..
I just really am trying to say thank you. I refer back to your blog a lot for technical advice..
So THANKYOU MEG
cheers Kim
Aaron – I imagine there will be a period of adjustment, but as word spreads it should get better.
Thanks for you comment
Hey Kim – I know how you feel. I consume many blogs that I don’t comment on as often as I should, but I certainly appreciate them. I’ve been reading about your heatwave and the rain that finally came…. but really haven’t felt like I had anything to add.
I think you’re doing a great job, and if there’s anything you need help with, don’t be afraid to ask (I learned a long time ago, that if there was something I didn’t understand, there was a fair chance somebody didn’t either). That way you won’t have to burden Veronica 😉
Many thanks for your comment, it’s nice to know I’m on the “rss thingy” even if you don’t comment! 😀
Thankyou for this Meg.
I say we all move to WordPress. (Not biased, ohno.) 😛
Hi, I’m so pleased to have found this, but I’m still having a problem. I setup an OpenId, added the code to my template, and then tested on my blog using my blog’s url (http://www.junkdrawerblog.com.
When I view the comment and click on my name, it still points back to my Blogger profile, NOT my blog. Would you be so kind as to suggest what I might have done wrong? Much appreciated!
If this method works, I plan to document it for my readers and then I can stay with Blogger.
Also, when I used your code for my template, it was rejected due to its href formatting. I had to use the OpenID code (which you reference) in order for it to work.
Thanks again for providing this tutorial! I hope I can get it working. This will make a fine workaround to the change that Google made.
[…] is a shit load of bloggers up in arms about this little scheme of Blogger. Meg the amazing has another post up with more information. Pop over there and have a look, oh and tell her I sent you cause then she […]
Veronica – no worries
Alyndabear – could do worse!
Kathy – thanks for pointing out about the code. Glad we got the issue sorted. I’ve amended the post to mention about the code, and also the importance of creating a persona with a nickname. Thanks
I have much hate for Blogger. Thanks for the work around. Now we just need to spread the word! Thanks for the tips!
Kim – and anybody else who might be interested; careful using that ‘rss thingy’. As I found out a few weeks back, you can potentially get sued for copyright infringement if the software you use to read the feed actually copies *any* content onto another computer (and they all do in one form or another – that’s precisely how they work).
Ask permission *before* you look at somebody’s newsfeed. Just because it is there doesn’t give you the legal right to actually use the bloody thing. And the people providing the rss feed reader software aren’t liable when push comes to shove. You are.
Granted, most people that provide feeds do so in order to help circulate their writing, but you cannot and should not rely on this being the case.
Mike – geez, what’s the world coming to? And we have such a hard time stopping RSS scrapers…
No worries here, read away.
Sue’s post is ranked 5 in Google for the terms “blogger commenting”.
Colin,
Wow that’s awesome, especially for such a new blog. I gotta hope people click “pages from Australia” or I’m nowhere to be found!
Wow I did not realize that my post had such high profile. Thanks for letting me know Colin. I should get on my high horse more.
I know I did not mention OpenID mainly because implementing this means a ‘hack’ to your blog theme. It is a workround to compensate, forced on us by Google. Before the blogger in draft comes into operation the workrounds you and I have suggested will still have to be implemented. It is not that I am against OpenID and am in the midst of writing a post about it now.
About the newsfeeds, Mike, I would have thought that implicit permission is given for people to read RSS content, when someone attaches their content to an RSS feed – either manually or by using blog software? Republishing the material on another site could be a different matter but it is a worry if just reading it is cause for copyright infringement. And what about displaying a feed from another site on your blog – eg using a widget or the inbuilt feed publisher on sites such as Ning? Could that be a breach too I wonder
Google is just a nightmare right now, and this is the latest example of “making things better” which really means “better for Google and the rest of you can take a flying leap”.
The mass exodus is sure keeping me busy, people are leaving blogger in droves, and asking me to hook them up with a new wordpress blog. And why not, at $5 a month it’s less than a can of coke a week to have all the CONTROL that blogger wants to take away from people.
And now, here’s something even more fun. The fine folks at Google have decided to play a game with the images people upload to their blogs. Sometimes if you click on the image you will get a bigger image. Sometimes if you click on the image you will be asked if you want to download the photo.
This of course means loads of fun for those of us trying to move blogger photos over to WordPress. There was a plugin which used to work somewhat ok, but now it is completely scrooged.
So yeah cheers thanks a lot blogger and google, for “making life better”!!
For those of you wanting to leave a link in your comments in blogger, may I recommend putting an ahref link in your signature? I always used to do it and people do appreciate being able to get directly to your blog. It’ll look like this when you post it –
Cheers!
Snoskred
http://www.snoskred.org
[…] our (non-Bl*gger) URL in the ‘Other’ section. Really. They’re just pissing people off. The assumption many bloggers seem to be making at the moment is that Google/Bl*gger are trying to […]
Bloggers want control over their comments — NOT big brother standing over their shoulder deciding what is best.
[…] Blogger Changes Commenting System […]
[…] our (non-Bl*gger) URL in the ‘Other’ section. Really. They’re just pissing people off. The assumption many bloggers seem to be making at the moment is that Google/Bl*gger are trying to […]