Site update: Switched from Disqus to Commento
About six years ago, when I switched from WordPress to Jekyll as the platform for this site, I implemented Disqus for comments. However, I’ve disliked Disqus for a long time, especially when I look at all the scripts and other bloat this commenting service ads on my site. For more complaints about Disqus, see Why you should remove Disqus from your site. Disqus doesn’t align with modern web practices and privacy, frankly. When you look at everything that loads with Disqus, it’s kind of startling.
Commento is lightweight, privacy friendly, and seems to work well even it’s missing some features. For example, it doesn’t let me aggregate the latest comments in a single list, nor does it surface related posts. It also looks like a one-person shop created by a student. However, it’s $5 a month instead of $9, was trivial to integrate, and offered an import from Disqus. Managing comments is easy, and so far even by allowing anonymous comments, I haven’t received much spam.
I have noticed that more people are commenting now. I think Disqus required too many logins and had too many false positives filtered out.
One other feature I’m considering deep-sixing is the Facebook share button on my site (which loads its own scripts). Facebook has fallen into disrepute in the tech community, and I don’t actively use Facebook nor see many conversations there. At the same time, Facebook still does have some traffic and popularity.
About Tom Johnson
I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, plain language, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my API documentation course if you're looking for more info about documenting APIs. Or see my posts on AI and AI course section for more on the latest in AI and tech comm.
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