Disqus

I mentioned in a previous thread that Disqus is going to implement their new version of the system on all sites from March and discontinue all older versions. Pallottine suggested we change it sooner rather than later so we can get used to it. I tend to agree with him.

This is the appearance of the new Disqus. I have already switched to it on the other blogs and can't change it back anymore.

The new features, in a nutshell:

1. The avatars are small and can't be enlarged anymore
2. Comments may be voted up or down via the arrows on the left
3. The nested threads (replies, replies to replies and so on) will cut off after 10 comments automatically
4. They promise real time updating, but I haven't seen any evidence that it works
5. They have discontinued pagination and will have a "load more comments" button at the bottom of the thread
6. They have removed most options for customizing any of it

Some of these features won't affect us greatly because we never have too many comments (the beauty of a small community!), but I'm not happy about small avatars and have made my feelings known to Disqus. I also suggested they stop tweaking the bloody thing. Every time they "improve" it, everything goes wrong.

In the past, they offered more options and we could stick to an older, stable version. They left the old versions alone and concentrated on "improving" the most recent one. Now they offer a single version, take it or leave it!

I'm toying with the idea of switching to the new version as we won't be able to avoid it for much longer. Let me know if you want to make the most of the few weeks left on the old version or bite the bullet and take the plunge now!