I don't particularly like the trend of sites offloading their commenting mechanisms to Twitter, Facebook, DISQUS, etc. If it's Facebook, I'll never see it, due to browser plugins. Twitter is often too short for a good conversation, but if you do use it, run a script to import/display related tweets instead of making me click. I'm not a fan of DISQUS either, partly because I use Ghostery. (Alhough, it's good that the new version has a quick "enable once and reload" feature.)
If the purpose of your site is to generate discussion, include a discussion mechanism. If you like the clean look and don't want comments, expect less feedback.
Sending users elsewhere, or requiring extra clicks to see the conversation means less engagement. Maybe that's what some want, and use it as an effort to separate wheat and chaff ... but frankly, that's what moderation is for.
Commenting is something I'd much rather offload to someone like DISQUS. Creating your own commenting system either requires lots of spam management (for an open commenting system) or forcing users to register for your service before they can comment.
Frankly I prefer to use my existing identities to comment than have to sign up each time on someones service just to be able to comment.
I prefer just the opposite: I like having my identities on each site distinct and autonomous. If everyone has a common identity across multiple sites, it prevents any particular site from effectively evolving its own internal community and cultural norms, and raises the stakes of participation.
I segment my identities. A very few things will get my real name (or some variant of it). Most go under a generally-topical alias of some sort or another. I don't mind those aliases gathering their own reputation, but it's no major loss if I decide to toss one at a later point.
I guess I don't really understand this, because I see just as much - if not more - spam in DISQUS discussions. Making it easier to moderate is nice, but someone needs to actively bother to do so.
Agreed. If I see a third party commenting system, I typically just close the tab instead of leaving a comment. It's not worth the hassle to me to deal with whatever your commenting system requires.
Name/email/url. These three simple fields make it easy. Don't make me try to figure out how to talk back to you.
Not sure if you were directing that us as well, but either way just wanted to clarify: we (Disqus) actually do offer guest commenting functionality by default. You can continue commenting similarly as you do on any non-third-party system by simply not logging in to an account when posting a comment.
I wasn't actually responding directly to you, but I will.
Doesn't matter if you offer guest commenting by default. I close the browser tab the moment I see the non-standard comment box. I don't have any idea what hassles some arbitrary-comment system will have, so unless I really have something to say, then I'll just not bother.
I have a Disqus login, and sometimes I'll have something important enough to say that I'll go through the pain of using it. But it's not easy, nor simple to do. It adds extra burden on the user, and IMO reduces conversation on sites.
This is not unique to Disqus, the same problem exists for all third-party comment systems. The fact that the comment system is third-party is the fundamental problem that you'll need to overcome. When I see somebody else's branding on the comments, I'm out. Don't even stick around long enough to read them.
Disqus also has very poor facilities for searching, filtering, and sorting discussion threads. On more than one occasion, I've attempted to revisit a thread I'd participated in earlier, to see if there'd been any new replies, only to be completely stymied in my attempt to locate the specific comments I was looking for, due to a slow UI, mandatory pagination, and a lack of any internal search function.
When I was looking at Disqus I had to logout/in to post from a different account. With WordPress native comments all I have to do is put in a different email/url and it's on a different profile.
I do like that you can see comments from many sites with Disqus though.
We actually do offer guest commenting functionality by default. You can continue commenting similarly as you do on native WP sites by simply not logging in to an account when posting a comment.
Sounds like an interesting pitch for branch.com. :)
This way, there doesn't have to be one end-all-be-all conversation. Instead, there's just a button to jump start viral conversations directed by the users who interact with their friends and spread the news and conversation that way.
If the purpose of your site is to generate discussion, include a discussion mechanism. If you like the clean look and don't want comments, expect less feedback.
Sending users elsewhere, or requiring extra clicks to see the conversation means less engagement. Maybe that's what some want, and use it as an effort to separate wheat and chaff ... but frankly, that's what moderation is for.